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Mini-Fiesta Chili con Carne and Perfect Latin White Rice (Yes, all the kids ate it…eventually)

10 Oct

My friend Pam often opens her home for massive Mom-and-Kid-Family playdates on Saturday afternoons with our extended group of single mom friends. Think a dozen little maniacs — ages 7 and under — tearing around a big backyard on bikes and scooters and what have you, swinging, arguing, playing…while the moms share stories from the frontlines of parenting solo.

On these occasions I often invite myself and Leandro to stay for dinner after everyone’s gone.  These meals tend to be a collaborative effort (as the best sort of friendships tend to be). Our kids — she has two — love each other’s company and she’s got loads of toys so they leave us in relative peace to chew the fat, complain about them, worry about everything, laugh at ourselves…you know the routine.

This time I invited ourselves over again, but I had the meal already in hand. In my cooler tote went a pint of Basic Seasoned Ground Beef that I pulled from the freezer, a 28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes, a 15 oz can of red kidney beans, chili powder, cheddar cheese (secret weapon) and a bag of rice.

I also brought a bottle of Wölffer Estate apple wine, because it’s locally produced, refreshing, tasty, good with food, and –at just 7 percent alcohol — Pam — the Lightweight Champion of the World — can have more than one glass and so can I, even though I have a drive home later. Kim and her two girls also stayed, so we popped the cork and got the party started!

Now, don’t think the kids just tucked right into it. No way. Leandro loves the stuff, but the other moms were skeptical whether their kids would go for something quite so bean-y, quite so meat-y, quite so seasoned, quite so different from what they usually have, ’cause that is how kids are.

They were right; the cute little molded mounds of rice went quickly, and they picked the cheddar cheese off the top of the chili, but they were decidedly unenthusiastic about the main part of the meal. So I told them they were hurting my feelings, offered to mix in rice and cheese to anyone who would just try the food to make me happy, and soon enough, they were eating it up. Score!

Please note: this is easy to assemble in no time at all (20 minutes or so from fridge to table), IF you have pre-made seasoned ground beef stored in pint containers in your freezer. I include the recipe here; it is a pillar of my kitchen strategy and I recommend you make it three pounds at a time!

I also include my recipe for perfect Latin white rice…Pam actually made excellent rice in her pressure cooker this time, but I include the recipe just the same. The parboiled quick stuff is just not acceptable, except in extremis, sorry.

Chili Con Carne (serves four adults)

1 pint Basic Seasoned Ground Beef (see below)

28 oz can tomato puree/whole peeled tomatoes/crushed tomatoes (Italian-style NOT recommended; basil has no place here)

15 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 Tbs chili powder

hot sauce, if desired

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Monterey Jack would work too)

In a large pot, add beef, tomatoes, beans and chili powder, bring to a boil and then simmer. Begin preparing rice (see recipe below). When the rice is ready, the chili should be ready too. Just adjust for seasoning and serve rice topped with chili and cheese.

Basic Seasoned Ground Beef

You can build on this dish to make many different meals

BASIC SEASONED GROUND BEEF (this is half of what I usually do to freeze. To do 3 lbs. at a time, double everything – Note: do NOT skip the olives and capers, even if you hate them. I never eat olives — green or black –yuck! but I cook with them. In this dish they give a salty, sharp, savoriness that is crucial and the little bits pretty much disappear in the cooking. Pam and Kim and the kids all ate them without noticing!)

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 baseball sized onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced (go for more if you like – I do!)

1.5 lbs. ground beef

(Optional1/4-1/2 C. chopped red pepper fresh or roasted from a jar)

1/2 tsp adobo powder* (if desired – I generally don’t use it, but some people love the extra salt and the umami)

1 heaping Tbs capers, drained

10 manzanilla olives (pitted and stuffed with pimientos), chopped small

(optional 1/2 cup tomatoes from a can – diced, chopped, whatever or a spoonful of tomato paste you need to use up)

Heat oil on high in a large saucepan until thin and fragrant. Add onion and cook, stirring, for two minutes until well coated and getting translucent. Lower heat to fairly low and cook for five minutes, add garlic and cook for another minute. Raise heat to high and crumble in ground beef, stirring and breaking up frequently until fully-browned. Spoon out fat or pour off (don’t make it too dry!) into sink (carefully!).

Return to heat, add red pepper, optional adobo, capers, olives and optional tomato. Mix completely. Lower heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes until fat begins to separate from sauce. Serve or freeze.

 *instead of adobo powder, mix 1/4 tsp salt and 1 Tbs mixed chopped fresh herbs (oregano, rosemary, parsley) or 1 tsp dried

Perfect White Rice (you can halve this recipe if you are not big into carbs)

1 Tbs olive oil

2 Cups long-grain white rice (Sello Rojo, Goya or other Latin brand preferred)

4 Cups water

½ tsp salt

Place olive oil in a medium pot (with a tight lid). Begin heating to high while adding the rice. Stir to coat, Add water and salt. Stir once, then bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and allow water to evaporate until it goes below the surface of the rice and there are a couple of holes in the surface. Turn rice over once with a big spoon. Cover and cook on low another ten minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

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Bits and Bobs Broccoli Pasta (FAST)

9 Oct

My dad took Leandro for a haircut when we got home from the workday– they love to do the man thing at the barber together  — so I dashed off to do some solo grocery shopping which I find heavenly (It is a sad commentary on the state of my life that an unaccompanied trip to the supermarket has replaced dinner and a show on my top-five list of things to do). Then it was off to the farm for pick-up and then I headed home with no time to fuss over dinner, but nothing prepared and a child about to realize – with the suddenness of an improvised explosive device — that he is STARVING.

I did call my dad on the way home to see if he could get water on the boil, which he did! Masha danki, Padushi! (Mark Bittman – the NYTimes Minimalist food writer and one of my heroes — says whenever you get home you should get the water going, so you can throw anything in there, inspired or not). So on the rest of the 15-minute drive home, I did a mental inventory of all the scraps in my fridge and larder that needed using – Multigrain pasta, check. Leftover olive oil from tortillas, check. Unused peeled onion halves from another dish, yup. Too many peppers from the farm, uh-huh. The ever-present broccoli that represents probably 50 percent of Leandro’s vegetable consumption (heavy sigh), right. Dab of tomato paste I didn’t need for the meatloaf…etc. etc.

And by the time I got home, I was good to go and get dinner on the table in about 15 minutes (6-minute pasta was key). You should note that tomato paste is a great thing to add tomato tang and depth. I guess it is thanks to its concentration that it releases its flavors with just a bit of sauteing (unlike purees or whole peeled tomatoes, which much be cooked for a while to get really good). That’s a criollo trick I learned in Puerto Rico!

In this recent version, I used two tablespoons of the reserved olive oil that I had used to saute the onions and potatoes for a recent tortilla, which adds a nice flavor, but you can just use extra virgin olive oil as stated in the recipe.

Not only did this work for Leandro’s evening meal, but he asked for the leftovers for lunch the following day and I was very happy to oblige. You can see the lunch he took to school here!

Typical Leandro lunch: pasta, yogurt and mini-muffins for dipping

Bang Together Bits and Bobs Broccoli Pasta (makes two kid servings)

6 oz whole grain medium pasta shells(about half a 13.5 oz box)

A handful of broccoli florets separated into forkfuls (and peeled and chopped stems, if you like)

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

½ onion, peeled and chopped fine (about ¼-1/2 Cup)

½ green pepper (Cubanelle, sweet or bell are fine), chopped fine

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

1 Tbs tomato paste

2 tsp chopped herbs of your choice (basil, oregano, thyme, culantro; halve for dried herbs)

Grated cheese (such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Gran Padano) or nutritional yeast (optional)

Prepare pasta according to package directions in a medium to large pot, adding the broccoli 3-4 minutes before the boiling is finished. Drain, reserving ½ Cup cooking liquid.

Let the same pot dry over the burner, add the olive oil and heat at medium high until loose and fragrant. Add the onion and green pepper and stir to coat. Add garlic and lower heat to medium and cook for a minute. Add tomato paste and herbs and stir around until fully incorporated. Add the pasta and mix thoroughly (if you find it too dry, add tablespoons of the reserved cooking liquid). Add cheese and serve.

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Abuela’s Juicy Meatloaf (or a reasonable, nostalgia-driven facsimile)

5 Oct

It’s not that I have the actual recipe, or ever did, or was even paying attention when it was being made, but guided by a bit of nostalgia — and inspired to meatloaf by a gorgeous Mexican Meatloaf recipe from fellow blogger Karen at Backroad Journal  — I put together a meatloaf that is reminiscent of what my late grandmother used to make for me.

Call it culinary forensics, trolling the recesses of my taste and scent memory for clues; flipping through the archives of meals at the round glass table of her dining room in urban Hato Rey; re-focusing my attention from the sounds of trucks blaring political messages from the avenue ten stories below, from the sensation of the cool tile floors under my bare toes, from the crumpled sogginess of the inevitable paper napkin, soaking up the condensation from the glass with the green and gold designs painted on it, the water flat tasting because she boiled it before drinking.

When I peeled away the distractions, finished my detective work and let my inner kitchen voices have their way, this is what I came up with – something fairly juicy, with fairly typical Puerto Rican seasonings and with tomato paste incorporated two ways. The one thing I am sure of is the tomato paste on the top, like icing on the cake for the savory set. The rest is an educated guess. In fact, it probably tastes nothing like what my grandmother used to make, but it gave me that same feeling and was mighty sabroso, so I am sticking with it.

As a note (and call for advice): my dad and I are currently using the Verde Farms organic ground beef from Costco. The flavor is good, but it does have a fair bit of fat and the texture is a bit more fine than we like for things like meatloaf and meatballs and burgers (it’s okay for crumbled beef dishes). So this particular meatloaf is misshapen and reluctant to firm up and stick together for slicing purposes. It may be that I am doing something else wrong that could be corrected, so shout it out if you have an idea! The organic thing is important to me, in particular because of my son; any suggestions for a better ground beef available in Long Island would be most welcome.

Abuelita’s Juicy Meatloaf

2lbs ground beef

1 Cup dry breadcrumbs (seasoned is fine)

¾ Cup chopped onion

1 Tbs grated onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ Cup green bell/sweet pepper, minced

1 tsp cumin

2 Tbs fresh cilantro, chopped (may substitute parsley if someone has a cilantro aversion)

1 Tbs fresh oregano, chopped (halve if using dried)

1 Tbs fresh culantro (recao), chopped, optional

½ tsp chili powder

2 Tbs ketchup

1 Tbs tomato paste for the meat, plus 3 Tbs for the top

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375°F. Add all ingredients (except additional 3 Tbs tomato paste) to large bowl. Mix all ingredients with a fork or hands just until thoroughly combined, but do not work it through or knead it, or else the meatloaf will be tough.

Place in 8×5 loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and spread the reserved tomato paste evenly over the top. Return to oven and finish cooking (another 5-15 minutes – until a meat thermometer inserted in the center reads 140°F). Allow to cool slightly before serving.

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Quickie Criollo Tomato and Avocado Salad (great side for spicy, salty or otherwise highly seasoned food)

3 Oct

A go-to side for spicy creole cooking!

This is a super-quick, healthy side dish that we use in the Caribbean to accompany really salty stuff, like bacalao (salt cod) dishes, or to cool the palate between bites of something spicy. It goes wonderfully with creole soups, or as the lightest, yet most satisfying of dinners when you don’t want to fuss (A hard-boiled egg or a scoop of tuna would be a fine protein accompaniment). The colors and slices lend themselves to festive; this dish looks like a party, even if it’s just a party of one.
We had it tonight with a mini-tortilla española (potato and egg stovetop frittata) I made while doing a bigger sized one for our Restoration Farm potluck on Sunday, green salad and some string beans blanched and then sauteed with garlic and oil (and a bit of bacon fat, truth be told).



Quickie Tomato and Avocado Salad

1 ripe avocado (responds to pressure, but isn’t totally mushy*), sliced into eight wedges and peeled

1 ripe tomato, cut into eight wedges

¼ red onion, peeled and sliced thinly, lengthwise

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Salt for sprinkling

Freshly cracked pepper, if desired

Arrange avocado and tomato wedges on a small plate, alternating

Scatter red onion on top. Drizzle olive oil as desired.

Sprinkle salt and optional black pepper and serve cold

*Buying avocado is not easy, I know! Lately I have had a 50-50 record of success with the little black Hass ones, despite my years of practice. I don’t know what’s up with that, but the general rule is to buy it hard and stick it in a paper bag — with an apple, if you’ve got — for a couple of days. If you are buying an avocado for the very same day, look for something that yields to pressure, but doesn’t totally mush. If it is ripe but you are not ready to use it, it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

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Rustic Fries – in the Oven!

30 Sep

These made a great accompaniment to our Lemon-Thyme Roast Chicken. We were fortunate to have purple potatoes from our CSA – talk about gorgeous! But this will work with regular potatoes as well.

Oven-Roasted Rustic Fries

6 medium red potatoes cut into thick, rustic spears (peeling is unnecessary)

2 Tbs vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak potatoes in a large bowl of cold water for 30 minutes (to remove some of the starches)

Pat dry (you want them fairly dry).

Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss potatoes with oil on baking sheet and spread in a single layer. Roast for 45 minutes, turning 2 or 3 times, until crisp and golden. Finish with 3-5 minutes under the broiler for greater crispness.  Season with salt and pepper if desired.

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Lemon Thyme Roast Chicken (Third Bird from Hardscrabble pastured chicken project!)

26 Sep

Trisha Hardgrove’s pastured chicken project at Restoration Farm is a complete success as far as we in the de Cuba Romero household are concerned. These birds are so beautiful to work with, so wonderfully textured, so flavorful, that they almost cook themselves. Going back to conventional factory-raised chicken is pretty much out of the question now, but even organic supermarket chicken cannot compare.

Having said that, we can all use a little enhancement to highlight our best features, and this simple roasting recipe, inspired by The Barefoot Contessa, is just the thing. The result was a juicy, tender bird and juicy, tender vegetables, infused with — but not overwhelmed by — lemon, thyme and garlic.

The original recipe called for the bird to be slathered with butter, but here we prefer olive oil. Mind you, we did NOT get a crispy skin, which may be what you are looking for. In that case, substitute same amount of melted butter. She also uses a fennel bulb where we use celery – again, just personal preference. This was a meal my dad, Pedro, and I did together – it is thanks to him that we were fearless with the salt. You really do want that much. We did not, however, put any additional salt on the vegetables and they didn’t need it. You can always finish them with salt at table.

The amount of thyme may seem a lot, but it really flavors the chicken and the vegetables. I am fortunate to have a bumper crop of French thyme in my container herb garden, so it was no problem for us. If you are buying at the store, you will want the equivalent of two fat fistfuls of sprigs for the whole recipe.

Lemon-Thyme Roast Chicken and Vegetables

1 4-5 lb roasting chicken

2 Tbs kosher salt, plus 1 tsp

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus several pinches

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon, rinsed and sliced in half

1 head of garlic, unpeeled, but root end sliced off as much as you can. Slice the head in half, crosswise (through the cloves)

2 Tbs olive oil

1-1.5 cups onion, sliced thick (yellow, red or a mix of the two is fine)

2 Cups carrots, chopped into 1.5”chunks

1 Cup chopped celery

1-2 Cups additional chopped roasting vegetables of your choice – potatoes, turnips, parsnips, fennel for example

2 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 425°F. Remove chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out, remove excess fat and pin feathers and pat dry.

Use the 2 Tbs salt and 1 Tbs pepper to salt and pepper the inside of the bird, then stuff the cavity with the thyme, lemon and garlic.

Brush the outside of the chicken with 2 Tbs olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wings under the body. Place the onions, carrots and celery in the roasting pan and toss with the remaining olive oil and 20 sprigs of thyme. Place the chicken, breast side up, on top of the vegetables.

Roast the chicken for 1.5 hours (to an internal temperature of 165° or until the juices run clear when you stick a knife between leg and thigh and the joints move freely in the sockets). Remove chicken and vegetables from roasting pan, arrange on a platter and let rest under a loose foil cover for 20 minutes before serving.

In the spirit of efficacy and energy-efficiency, we simultaneously roasted beets for a future salad and oven-fried potatoes (recipe to come). For the beets, simply cut off beet greens to an inch above the beet, wash and dry, wrap loosely in foil and stick in the oven with the bird. The beets will be done when the chicken is done. You can easily peel them and serve them with the chicken, or save them for something else in the next day or two.

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Packing the Oven: Roasted Eggplant Cubes, and Onions and Peppers

24 Sep

Here are the last two recipes for my oven-packing roasting-mania session that resulted in a couple of days’ worth of meals as I used the vegetables in several different ways. Vegetarians and vegans will enjoy the deeper flavor roasting gives to vegetables. Environmentally-conscious cooks will like the energy saving of packing the oven. And busy folks will be very pleased; once the chopping is done, the time-consuming work is over!

These are not really recipes on their own, but something great to have on hand to assemble quick meals. They also extend the life of vegetables you have too many of but don’t want to lose!

These two were especially good in my take-to-work wrap. I just slapped some hummus on a wrap, laid out some roasted vegetables, a few strips of sundried tomatoes and some of the roasted tomatoes I told you about a couple of days ago. Delicious!

Continue reading →

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Roasted Pattypan Squash (yes, you can eat the rind)

22 Sep

These summer squashes — with their tam o’ shanter shape and luscious colors — look more pretty than edible, but they are really tasty, so have no mercy, grab them off that fall centerpiece and cook ’em up while they are fresh and tender!

This is a really basic recipe for roasting that I used recently when packing the oven with four different veggie dishes. You can boil pattypans, stuff them (Click here for a gorgeous and simple stuffed pattypan recipe!) , even grill them (brush with lemon and mint, yum, yum), but this will do the job if you just want to get the job done simply.

I do recommend scooping the seeds if there are a lot of them and you have the time.

Roasted Pattypan Squash

2 medium pattypan squash (about 1.5 lbs), quartered, seeds removed if desired

2 -3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs dried oregano

1 Tbs dried thyme

Salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F. Spread oil over all surfaces of squash. Then sprinkle with herbs, salt and pepper. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until tender.

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Roasted Plum Tomatoes with Garlic and Basil

21 Sep

As the weather cools, I am turning the oven on more and more (the big oven). Packing the oven uses less energy and is a great way to use up an abundance of garden vegetables. Roast everything one evening and have veggies for side dishes, quick pastas, lunchtime wraps, and whatever else you can think of for the next three or four days!

On this occasion I packed the oven with tomatoes, eggplant, onions and peppers, and pattypan squash in separate  dishes…all at 450° for approximately 30 minutes. It was quite a production, but more on those recipes later!

Today’s installment is yet another delicious way to get the most from the end-of-season tomatoes and basil. This method turns little plums into savory-sweet disks that dress up any dish they are around. They marry well with pizza, feta, mozzarella, hummus, olives…anything Mediterranean.

Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic and Basil

24 plum tomatoes (or as many as will fit on your rimmed baking sheet and increase other ingredients accordingly), halved, with core and seeds scooped out

3-4 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 Tbs fresh basil leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Place tomatoes on rimmed baking sheet. In a bowl, whisk remaining ingredients (except basil) together until blended. Stir in basil and drizzle over tomatoes, allowing oil to also seep under. Cook for 20-25 minutes, until tomatoes begin to caramelize. Serve atop toast, in a wrap or just eat right off the baking sheet!

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Stuff It! Another end-of-season tomato option

19 Sep

Yes, we are still harvesting tomatoes from both our backyard Earth Box and Restoration Farm, but not really in the overwhelming quantities that forced me to start making sauce and freezing. There are just enough to make something out of, but what? You know I’m not letting them go to waste….

So I happened upon a recipe for stuffed tomatoes, Murcia-style, from The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden in an e-letter from La Tienda (purveyors of Spanish food products) and I said – hey, I can do that with the beef I already have seasoned in the fridge! (recipe below). So I did. Fast, easy and quite gorgeous. My dad did the same with green peppers (we are getting loads of them from the farm) and they also came out beautifully tasty and eye-catching.

If you are avoiding carbs these kind of stuffed vegetables can be very satisfying….I would also like you to know that the tomatoes in these photos came from our little garden, and that I sent Leandro out to pick them his very own four-year-old farmer self and he came back arms full and very pleased. Whee-hee! But no, he still won’t eat tomatoes, so we still have a ways to go….

Stuffed tomatoes!

Murcia-inspired Stuffed Tomatoes

4 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 2 pounds) or several smaller ones. They need to be big enough to stand up to stuffing

Sprinkling of salt and sugar (optional)

1 Cup  Basic Seasoned Ground Beef (recipe below) or your preferred seasoned ground beef or pork

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut a small slice off the stem end of each tomato to use as lids (leave the stems and leaves on for rustic good-looks). Take a thin slice off the bottom of each to give stability when you stand them up. Shave the inside of the lids to leave more room for the stuffing. Remove pulp and seeds with a pointed teaspoon and reserve. You may sprinkle the insides of the tomato with salt/sugar to season slightly, if desired.

Heat the beef in a skillet with the reserved tomato seeds and pulp until just warm. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Stuff the tomatoes with the beef, pressing it in firmly, and cover with the lids.

Arrange the tomatoes in a baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft; remove them before they start to fall apart.

BASIC SEASONED GROUND BEEF (this is half of what I usually do to freeze. To do 3 lbs. at a time, double everything)

2 Tbs extra virigin olive oil

1 baseball sized onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced (go for more if you like – I do!)

1.5 lbs. ground beef

(Optional1/4-1/2 C. chopped red pepper fresh or roasted from a jar)

1/2 tsp adobo powder* (if desired – I generally don’t use it, but some people love the extra salt and the umami)

1 heaping Tbs capers, drained

10 manzanilla olives (pitted and stuffed with pimientos)

(optional 1/2 cup tomatoes from a can – diced, chopped, whatever or a spoonful of tomato paste you need to use up)

Heat oil on high in a large saucepan until thin and fragrant. Add onion and cook, stirring, for two minutes until well coated and getting translucent. Lower heat to fairly low and cook for five minutes, add garlic and cook for another minute. Raise heat to high and crumble in ground beef, stirring and breaking up frequently until fully-browned. Spoon out fat or pour off (don’t make it too dry!) into sink (carefully!).

Return to heat, add red pepper, optional adobo, capers, olives and optional tomato. Mix completely. Lower heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes until fat begins to separate from sauce. Serve or freeze.

 *instead of adobo powder, mix 1/4 tsp salt and 1 Tbs mixed chopped fresh herbs (oregano, rosemary, parsley) or 1 tsp dried

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