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Lunchtime Blues: Today’s letter to the teacher

A sad irony of American life: loads of food, not all of it nutritious.

I can’t honestly say that I love making lunches for my son. It takes an extra half hour in mornings that are already too short. I get him up around 6:30, since I start teaching at 8 a.m. and have to leave him at before-care. Since breakfast at before-care is a choice of not-really-food cereals or more-like-dessert cereal bars, I give him juice, toast and fruit at home. I make (or heat up) and pack lunch — usually leftover rice and beans or pasta with vegetables or quesadillas — and then after school there is snack and of course dinner. It’s a lot to think about, plan, shop for and do!

There are lunches to buy at school, but they are either stuff he doesn’t like or things I don’t trust. And he is not a sandwich guy. I don’t have time to fight the system, so I make hot lunch every day. I am glad to do it (because the alternative is unacceptable) and he is glad to eat it. But….I’ll let today’s letter to the teacher explain the rest, then await your comments. Continue reading →

Tags: cooking, food, kids

Comments 13 Comments
Categories Food

Blueberry Whole Wheat Pancakes

7 Jan

The recent snowy days led many of us to use our housebound, lazy mornings to make big breakfasts. The little guy had been begging for pancakes for a while and I ran out of excuses, so we put together some delicious whole wheat blueberry pancakes. He has been baking with me for a long time, so he was able to do a lot of the mixing and we are moving into measuring and understanding that

1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 1/2 teaspoons,

when we can’t locate the 1 tsp measure. The teachable moment is ever-present and just waiting to be exploited.

While recipes often recommend lighter flours, I actually used stone-ground whole wheat with just a bit of white flour and the results were not heavy at all. While I call these blueberry, I did make a few without the fruit (I just made a batch without and then added the blueberries to the batter) and both were excellent. This recipe gives the right amount for the whole batch.

We like a bit of maple syrup on our pancakes. It adds umami…nice rich mouthfeel

“These taste like heaven, Mom,” was the verdict. And I’ve got six leftover pancakes frozen in wax paper and a plastic tub to crisp up in the toaster oven one of these cold, but not leisurely mornings soon! Read on for recipe! Continue reading →

Tags: blueberries, breakfast, cooking, food, kid-friendly food, kids in the kitchen, pancakes, recipes

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Food, Recipes, Vegetarian

Guineitos en ájili-mójili (garlicky green bananas)

4 Jan

“What!?!”you are asking yourself. “Bananas with garlic!?! Eeeeew!!!!”

Yup. they are banans. But they are green.

Yup. they are bananas. But they are green.

But wait…this is not a sweet yellow eating banana dish. Nor is it a plantain dish. It is a savory, salty salad, served at room temperature and made with boiled green bananas (basically yellow ones – Musa sapentium – that are not at all ripe and must be cooked). They are widely used in the Caribbean and Central America because they are cheap and readily available. (For more on the origins of Puerto Rican ingredients, buy my ebook: Eat Your Way Through Puerto Rico!)

This is how you prepare them for boiling.

You might have a bigger challenge finding completely green bananas in your local supermarket; we usually get them at a Latin supermarket. I believe that Indian cooking also uses green banana; it makes sense, since the banana and all its relatives are believed to have originated in the Asian subcontinent, so if you have an Indian grocery near you you may find them there. And I have noticed that Costco’s bananas tend to be totally green; not good if you are looking for a raw fruit snack right away, but great for Latin cooking! Continue reading →

Tags: ajili-mojili, buffet ideas, comida criolla, cooking, food, green bananas, guineitos verdes, party food, Puerto Rican, recipes

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Comida Criolla, Entertaining, Food, Party Snacks, Puerto Rican, Recipes, salad, sauce, Side Dishes, Spanish, Vegan, Vegetarian

Gravlax: Salty-Sweet Salmon, Fragrant with Dill

3 Jan

You might not expect my Caribbean family to serve something so distinctly Northern European as gravlax, a salt and sugar-cured Swedish delicacy, but we are equal opportunity gourmands. And there are two important sources of inspiration for how gravlax has become a frequent element of our party buffets. I’ll tell you about those and then give you some nifty background on the dish itself!

Start with the freshest salmon you can find/afford

We get ours from Two Cousins Fish Market in Freeport. They are very accommodating to kids and to folks looking for sustainable options.

One source of inspiration is my Swedish sister-in-law, Annika, who has introduced us to the joys of Scandinavian cooking over the years and whose recipes have become part of family tradition. Second is Frank Eldridge, the college mentor for both my parents who helped them get together at Springfield College more than a half-century ago and who apparently introduced them to gravlax as well. He is no longer with us, but his gravlax is; this is an adaptation of his recipe, sent to us by his wife.

Be lavish with the dill

The etymology of Gravlax is pretty cool…and not just because it comes from cold weather countries or because it is a fish dish served chilled. Continue reading →

Tags: buffet, cooking, cured salmon, food, gravlax, recipes, Scandinavian, seafood, Swedish

Comments 11 Comments
Categories Christmas, Entertaining, Food, Holidays, Party Snacks

My Top Ten Indispensable New Recipes in 2013

30 Dec

These are the sleepers, the overlooked, the undervalued. They are, like so many of us, the ones who work hard and are most productive, yet don’t get the recognition they deserve.

The following recipes may not have made the Top Five Most Visited Hot, Cheap & Easy Recipes 2013 List, but these are the new recipes that changed MY life in 2013, the recipes I worked on and modified and perfected and which are now an integral part of my family’s menu. They are all fairly easy and all good enough for everyday or to serve to guests. I post them here because I love and appreciate them and I want to give everyone a second chance to notice them and perhaps give them a try in 2014!

1. Slow Cooker Chipotle-Lime Jerk Chicken

Holy Mother of Pearl. All thanks to Vinny and Carolyn Macchirole for turning me on to this one over the summer. Vinny and I made some modifications to a different recipe whose origins are hazy and I have made it a number of times since. A spicy, complex crowd-pleaser that is so easy (and feeds a crowd and freezes well)…as Carolyn says of the slow cooker, “Set it and forget it.”

Set it and forget it!

2. Vegetable Tian: incredible late summer dish inspired by none other than Martha Stewart and also by beautiful and bountiful vegetables from Restoration Farm and our own tomatoes! Slice them, stack them and pop them in the oven.

Assembly is easy on this vegetable tian

3. Italian Wedding Soup

This was one of the revelations of Marianne and my Sunday cooking sessions. The stock is everything, so please make an effort to make stock every time you roast a bird or beef with bones…

Madonna, this is good soup!

4. Fish Tacos and Tostadas

Inspired by a dinner out during our yearly camping trip to Montauk Point, these days I often do the fish without the tacos. It’s that tasty and fun!

Tacos, tostadas…it’s all good

5. Zucchini Corn Fritters

I am highlighting the zucchini corn fritters here, but it is really fritters in general that have transformed my life this year. I really like taking leftovers, making a light batter and frying them up for dinner. A recent foray into cod fritters reminded me to try a bit of baking powder more often. Expect to see more of these in 2014!

Light and luscious, the abundant corn kernels make this fun to eat

6. Berry Crisp

Light and beautiful, if you have a good berry source, this is what to do with your abundance.

Summer fruit reminds me of piles of precious gems!

7. Zippy Passionfruit Chipotle Grilled Shrimp (can be made in a stovetop grillpan)

Chipotle in Adobo was definitely one of my go-to condiments in 2013 and that is set to continue in 2014. Smoky, deep and spicy, you can add a little or a lot and jazz up your life.

Delicious with avocado

8. Crispy Beer Battered Oysters

Half the excitement of this one is that my dad and I taught ourselves how to shuck oysters (without proper oyster shucking knives which we have since acquired). So we would have been happy regardless of the recipe outcome, but this batter was easy, light and perfect and the whole family knocked them back with gusto.

Fantastically crisp beer battered oysters

9. White Rice

White rice is a staple of the Caribbean kitchen. My rice was always perfectly cooked, but my dad’s is beyond perfect. You can eat it on its own right out of the pot. So I loomed behind him until I got it.

Light and fluffy white rice

10. Sweet and Savory Churrasco (Grilled Skirt Steak)

Admittedly, I had this recipe before, but again, my dad’s recipe is just so good that I had to pester and hound him until I got it. And those of you who have tried it can attest that it is out of this world. Truly.

Churrasco or skirt steak is my favorite cut of all

Tags: 2013 round-up, cooking, favorites, food, recipes, top ten

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Important Update: Walnut Cup Extra Filling Makes Great Crescent Rolls!

28 Dec

Many of you have undertaken one of my favorite cookie recipes ever: Walnut Cups (delicious walnut toffee inside a cream cheese crust)! And found, as we did this year — and so did my friend and colleague, Cara — that you had leftover filling that you didn’t know what to do with. Do NOT overfill your walnut cups to use it up.

Going into the oven…this is the right height for filling. Any more and they will bubble over.

Here is the solution:

Marianne happened to have crescent roll dough in, the Pillsbury kind in the tube. so we put about a teaspoon of leftover filling at the wide end of each dough triangle, rolled them up and baked according to package directions.

just a little…

Off. The. Hook.

Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea…these were as good as those Cinnabon ones that smell so intoxicating and irresistible in an airport….

YUM!!!

So, problem solved and here is a link to the original recipe for holiday Walnut Cups (with cream cheese crust..Lord have mercy!)

Delicious Walnut Cups

Tags: baking solution, cooking, crescent roll idea, food, walnut cups

Comments 1 Comment
Categories baking, Christmas, cookies, desserts, Food, Holidays, Recipes

Bacalaitos: Light and Luscious Puerto Rican Cod Fritters

27 Dec

One of the pleasures of visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico is heading straight from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport to a beach area about five minutes to the east. Piñones, a long stretch of relatively undeveloped coastline is where beach shacks under the shade of coconut palms serve up ice cold beer, whiskey con coco, and all manner of snacks or frituras, flour or banana dough shaped in seagrape leaves and dropped into hot fat in blackened cauldrons over coal fires by ladies in hair rollers. Oh my God, I am so glad to be back, you say, toes in the crystal water and tearing into a delicious and greasy and tropical hunk of something.

Break up the de-salted cod as much as you can

One of the iconic frituras is bacalaitos: fried cod fritters. Salt cod is well-known to Atlantic coastal areas and the Caribbean…the New England cod fisheries have for centuries supplied coastal people with an abundance of this oily fish that preserves really well (if you are interested in the history of cod, you must read Mark Kurlansky’s Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World).

Sawtooth coriander or recao or culantro adds authentic flavor to this dish, but cilantro is a worthy substitute

Its popularity has led to overstressed fisheries. While they are being managed, they are not recovering well or quickly enough for me to have them as anything but an occasional treat.

skewered fritters draining, even as the next batch goes in!

In Puerto Rico we use salt cod in rice dishes, vinaigrette-style with local tubers, with tomatoes like the Basque people…in any number of ways. Bacalaitos are a good entry-level bacalao dish if you are afraid salt cod is too fishy for your family’s taste. Here it is not overwhelming, but more of a condiment and I daresay that salt cod lends umami (that fifth sensation of rich meaty mouth-feel) to what would be just a fish fritter…like many salted fish it is high in glutamates.

Letting the batter rest gives time for the baking powder to activate. that will give you nice airiness in the fritters.

Most of the credit for this recipe is shared between Carmen Aboy Valldejuli’s classic recipe in Cocina Criolla* and my dad’s adaptations and execution. It makes a perfect light dinner or appetizer…I like it with cold, dry sparkling wine, but of course a cold beer (on the lighter side) is a classic match-up. Kids and adults alike love them; we’ll be doing them up for our New Year’s guests when they arrive. Read on for recipe! Continue reading →

Tags: bacalaitos, bacalao, cod, comida criolla, cooking, food, fritters, kid-friendly fish, Puerto Rican, recipes

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Comida Criolla, Entertaining, Food, Holidays, Party Snacks, Puerto Rican, Recipes, Side Dishes, Spanish, Tapas

Quick and Easy Sweet-Tart Apple Sauce (Why Buy?)

26 Dec

We made latkes for Christmas Eve. I know, these grated potato fritters are more connected with Judaism and Hannukah than Christianity, but they made perfect sense with our global tapas menu, plus my son is a very Old Testament kind of kid who is adamant that we need to have a menorah next year and who bought himself dreidels with his leftover money from the school holiday shopping fair.

We used Roma for sweet, Granny Smith for tart, and Honeycrisp because they are delicious.

Welcome to New York, where as the comedian Jackie Mason used to say, everyone is at least half-Jewish.

Anyhoo, we are still working out our latke recipe, but in the meantime, they tasted very nice with the traditional accompaniments of sour cream and this apple sauce. Apple sauce is very easy to make and allows you to choose how sweet or tart and how sooth or chunky you want it. We have a fun apple peeler and corer, so the little guy can get involved too!

This corer makes life easier and more fun!

Continue reading →

Tags: apple sauce, cooking, easy holiday sides, food, fruit ideas, latkes, recipes

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Food, Recipes, sauce, Vegan, Vegetarian

Passionfruit Chipotle Shrimp: quickie dinner with style and flair

15 Dec

My friend, Ashley was visiting and I had promised dinner, but I hadn’t really planned. Towards the end of a busy semester, I find myself playing it by ear a lot; I just don’t have the wherewithal to do something that requires a lot of prep or advanced thought. I deal with things as they come up, and look forward to the upcoming break when I won’t feel so much like I am flying by the seat of my pants (what an odd idiom that is)!

I love the color of this…it almost looks like a curry…which makes me want to experiment with coconut and curry flavors…

I knew I had a bag of shrimp in the freezer that had been waiting for me to come up with something and then I remembered a quickie solution I quite like: tangy, smoky shrimp with finger-licking good sauce that soaks nicely into rice, but can also be eaten on its own if you are looking to reduce carbohydrate intake.

This was done in under ten minutes and made us very happy. One thing I like about this light treatment of shrimp is that you can eat a lot of it without the uncomfortably full feeling you can get from pork or beef). For a grilled version, click here.

very, very yummy!

Passionfruit Chipotle Shrimp (serves four)

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, minced (about a half cup)

2 tsp minced garlic

3 Tbs passionfruit pulp or juice

1-2 Tbs chipotle in adobo, chopped (remove seeds for less heat, but this amount is not super-spicy)

Juice of one orange or Clementine

Sprinkling of Adobo powder

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined (tail-on is okay)

1/4 Cup cilantro, chopped

In a skillet, heat olive oil until fragrant then add onions, stir to coat and lower heat to medium. Saute for five minutes or until onions are quite soft. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add passionfruit, chipotle and juice and stir to combine. While it cooks for a minute or two, sprinkle shrimp with Adobo (go easy if you don’t like much salt). Raise heat to high, add shrimp and cilantro to skillet, stir to coat and cook for 3-4 minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp, until they lose their translucency and begin to curl.

Serve over rice. Good cold too!

Easy Black Bean, Corn and Scallion Fritters

12 Dec

Here was a nifty little trick to use up some bits and bobs…black beans from a batch I had soaked, some frozen corn, a couple of leftover scallions. I went light on the seasonings, but you can certainly go more heavy.

This is an example of a denser fritter! More water will make the batter lighter

These were a big success at my house on a night that everyone just wanted something casual that you could grab with a napkin and keep going. You’ll have to play around with the consistency…add more water if you want a lighter fritter, less if you want it dense (which will need more cooking time in order to cook that flour).

I didn’t think Leandro woud like them, but he loved them and ate loads!

Black Bean and Corn Fritters With Scallions

1 tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp salt

5 black pepper corns

1 Cup black beans (either from a can or soaked)

1 Cup corn kernels

Half an onion, minced (at least ½ Cup)

½ Cup scallions, sliced, green and white parts

2 eggs

2 Tbs cilantro

¾ Cup flour

Water

2 Tbs vegetable oil (or more) for frying

Grind coriander, salt and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle until pulverized.

In a large skillet, heat oil at medium-high. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix beans, corn, onion, scallions, eggs, cilantro and flour until blended. Add water to create a more liquidy batter that drips thickly off a spoon.

Drop large tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and smooth out a bit into fritters. Don’t crowd them and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on thickness, adjusting temperature as needed. Place cooked fritters on paper towels to cool while you start the next batch and continue until done. Makes about a dozen fritters.

Tags: black beans, cooking, corn, food, fritters, kid-friendly foods, leftover solutions, recipes, scallions, vegetarian

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Food, lunch, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian

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