An International Student Thanksgiving!

24 Nov

Many of you know that in my other life I am a full time instructor of English as a Second Language at a community college. My students come from all over the world representing numerous languages, nationalities, ethnicities, and religions.

Chicha, Peru. This is a beverage made of purple corn and seasoned with cinnamon. A revelation in holiday beverages (no alcohol, but certainly has the potential to make a delightful cocktail!)

Since it is an intensive immersion program, we spend a lot of time together in the course of a semester. Twenty hours a week for fifteen weeks, in fact.

Fish cutlets, India. Dense, yet creamy croquettes with a flavor that is not too fishy, but robust.

So it is wonderful to be able to share that most American and most inclusive of holidays — Thanksgiving — with all of them.

Foreground: Griot, Haiti. Pork shoulder deliciousness, with savory vegetables like onion and peppers and a spicy sauce. Center: Indian fish cutlets. Back: empanadas.

It reminds me of just what a true celebration of America, its achievements, and its possibilities, Thanksgiving is.

Pupusas, El Salvador (sort of a thick, soft tortilla or arepa, stuffed with cheese, sometimes beans or meat, and topped with a Salvadoran cabbage slaw)

So after a major in-class essay-writing assignment (which I still have to grade before Monday. Yikes!), we unwrapped our potluck offerings, did a little heating up in the office microwave, (one student even plugged in her slow cooker!), and tucked in.

Top: empanadas (I am not sure where these are from actually: Perhaps one of the student who reads the blog can tell me so I can fix this?), popular all over Latin America, they are meat, cheese, or pizza stuffed pastries, and bottom, sugared peanuts from Angola.

We should’ve brought hammocks too; after this incredible feast, we had the classic Thanksgiving hangover: food coma and barely dragged ourselves through the History Channel Thanksgiving lesson.

Oven-roasted chicken, El Salvador. This was falling off the bone, juicy and delicious!

So today I am showing you some images of the feast – not the students, because I didn’t ask their permission to put their pictures on-line!

My plate!

Thanks to my wonderful, hard-working, inspiring, and fun students for this feast, especially the ones who cooked!

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

23 Nov

Note to readers on reblog: This is still one of my favorite things to do with leftovers! Happy post-Thanksgiving Day!

Natalia at A New World of Writing's avatarHot, Cheap & Easy

Happy Thanksgiving all! Regular readers will recognize this post from LAST Thanksgiving!!! See you soon; I am off to make broth…

My favorite quick dress-up for food that takes me from workaday-dull to bright and shiny: dried cranberries and walnuts.

My take-to-work breakfast? Plain nonfat yogurt, swirled up with some honey, a handful of cranberries and another handful of walnuts (bought in big bags at Costco – they last and last). Crunchy, creamy and sweet – oh yeah.

At home, I add them to spike up instant oatmeal. I also substitute half the raisins in oatmeal raisin cookies with cranberries for a brighter flavor and add walnuts for crunch and depth.

Boring salad? Add handfuls of cranberries and walnuts and make it fancy-schmancy (especially good with orange/clementine segments, red onion and feta – separately or in combination).

Today I incorporated them into my leftover turkey salad. Zippy!

Leftover Turkey Salad

leftover turkey, removed from bone, gristly…

View original post 118 more words

23 Nov

Note to readers on re-blog: Now that Black Friday is here, I want to remind you that this is a Hot, Cheap & Easy gift for foodies, linguists, visitors to the island, and your friends and family of Puerto Rican heritage! Spread the word, please!

Natalia at A New World of Writing's avatarHot, Cheap & Easy

And finally, almost 13 years after I started working on it, my culinary dictionary is available!! I am so excited (Thanks Carlos Matos of Forsa Editores for getting on board with me and guiding me through this new adventure!) to finally, after years of writing for newspapers and magazines to actually have my own book out, with my name on it (the cover you see here is not quite the actual image, but you get the idea). It feels really, really, great.

Eat Your Way Through Puerto Rico: A Culinary Dictionary is my contribution to the foodie word world.

(Update: Eat Your Way is now available on iTunes too!)

What is does is take the words and phrases we use in Puerto Rico for produce, local dishes, meats, fish and seafood, as well as how we get a table at a restaurant or get our steak cooked to order, and…

View original post 350 more words

I will NOT screw up the gravy this year; luscious turkey stock in progress

22 Nov

Regular readers will know that I disgraced myself last Thanksgiving by ruining the stock for the gravy; I put the liver in and rendered the stock (and the air in my kitchen) utterly disgusting. My mom triumphantly saved the day with a jar of gravy and I was mortified on many levels.

Leandro shows off as he pounds the turkey spice rub

That is not going to happen this year, thus this real time post to give you my stock recipe and let you know things are progressing fine! Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , ,

Yes, You Should Brine Your Farm-Raised Turkey. Here’s How.

21 Nov

“Why don’t you just get a Butterball and be done with it?” says my brother, or my sister-in-law, or my mother at some point every Thanksgiving or Christmas. “Why do you have to make everything so complicated?”

Indeed.

My immediate family – not unreasonably – often finds my and my dad’s insistence on getting a farm-raised bird expensive, unneccessary and annoying. They are probably right. You have to order ahead. You have to spend $3 or $4 a pound more. You have to go pick it up (although turkey pick-up at Restoration Farm involves seasonal festivities that some people need a designated driver for). And yes, you really need to brine it. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , ,

20 Nov

Note to Hot, Cheap & Easy readers: Miss Marzipan made a variation of my Walnut Toffee Triangles…with Pecans and Maple! Looks good, doesn’t it?

Tags: ,

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts: Pedro’s Latest Variation and Our Choice for Thanksgiving

19 Nov

We’ve been experimenting with Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving dinner. Should we go with an old favorite? Or try something new and potentially disastrous? (which brings to mind some awful lip-puckering lemony thing I did a few years ago which was only just edible. Of course I ate it out of a sense of guilt and starving-children-in-Ethiopia-so-eat-that-you-overprivileged-ingrate virtue, but it has left me a bit gun-shy)

Bubbling Brussels sprouts, Batman!

Then Pedro (the Dad) started experimenting with this recipe (similar to a Spanish one we have done often) and we are all hooked. He has done it enough so we feel confident that on the day either of us could make it delicious! It is easy, tones down any strong Brassica cabbage-y flavors, and can be done on the stovetop, so doesn’t take up valuable turkey and stuffing real estate in the oven.

Onions are the new ingredient in this adaptation of Spanish-style sauteed Brussels sprouts.

What are you doing for Thanksgiving sides? Inquiring minds want to know…

A bit mushier than current fashion, methinks, but keep cooking for that sweetness!

Tangy Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, bottom trimmed (just take off a thin slice) and any ugly outer leaves removed

6 Cups water

1 Tbs coarse salt

1 small onion, peeled and sliced into rings

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

3 pinches salt (to taste)

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 -2 generous Tbs red wine vinegar

In a pot put the Brussels sprouts, 1 Tbs salt, and the water. Bring to a boil, lower to a lively simmer and cook until tender (about 10-15 minutes).

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet big enough to eventually hold the Brussels sprouts. Add sliced onions and garlic and saute until wilted at medium low. Allow to caramelize a bit.

Drain Brussels sprouts and when they are cool enough to handle, slice in half and add to skillet along with about 3 pinches of coarse salt and a few grindings of black pepper. Stir to coat and continue cooking at medium low until slightly caramelized. Add red wine vinegar and cook down until evaporated and turning golden brown. Serve hot.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Thanksgiving Sides and Sweets: A Recipe Round-Up

17 Nov

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. No gifts, just massive food, and a chance to give thanks for all that we have. Given how very fortunate my family was through the storms – Sandy and the nor’easter, the grateful feelings are particularly sharp.

Walnut Toffee Triangles (they freeze beautifully!)

The sides I include here are all from previous posts and are meant to give you simple solutions to plugging holes in your menu. This blog is called Hot, Cheap & Easy, and these recipes – made from basic ingredients, easily obtained — exemplify this (except maybe the Butternut Squash Bisque, but that is mostly made-ahead so I think I can be forgiven on that one).

As I say to my classes, “KISS, KISS, KISS: Keep It Simple, Students!” These recipes help me practice what I preach! I expect to be posting more Holiday recipes in the next week, but this is a good start for shopping this weekend. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

16 Nov

2012 update to readers: The above re-blog is a reminder for Long Islanders looking for naturally (organic without the label) raised turkeys for Thanksgiving or local poultry and eggs all year long!

Natalia at A New World of Writing's avatarHot, Cheap & Easy

This one is for my homies: my readers here on Long Island. All the rest, rest assured that once I fix the weird photo upload problem that is cramping my blogging style, I will have a bunch of new recipes to share!

Local, Fresh and (pretty much) Organic: We’ve been getting our eggs and Thanksgiving (and sometimes Christmas) birds from Makinajian Poultry Farm in Huntington for a number of years now. We didn’t discover them by ourselves; once we joined C.S.A. – first at Sophia Garden and now at Restoration Farm – eggs and Thanksgiving turkeys were optional shares. It’s a good thing, as a drive to their farm in Huntington is kind of a hike for us to do on a regular basis – 30-40 minutes from our house. It’s a nice place to go though – farm animals in the front yard, coops out the back and a…

View original post 186 more words

Arroz con Habichuelas Rosadas (Puerto Rican Rice and Beans – authentic/how to fake them)

15 Nov

Oh the sweet taste of victory!

My victory? My victory garden!

My little baby peppers

I managed to coax a couple of ajies (Capsicum chinense or sweet cooking peppers) from seeds that I saved from a pepper from my mom’s cousin’s kitchen garden in Mayaguez, to go with the recao (Eryngium foetidum or sawtooth coriander) that I grew from a seed packet from Puerto Rico. Next year I will be much more aggressive about how early I plant all my peppers, but for this year, the teeny-tiny-ness of my harvest does not diminish the absolute joy of it. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →