Mango Pineapple Salsa

This week, I'm doing something a little different.  We're all familiar with savory, tomato-based salsas.  But, salsas can be quite varied.  Unlike most which are vegetable-based (I know a tomato is a fruit), this one is fruit-based.

Ingredients:

1/2 fresh Pineapple


1 Mango

1/2 c. finely chopped fresh Mint Leaves

2 Jalapeños
*You can use 1, if you want it less spicy.

1 c. chopped Green Onion - white and green parts without the roots

1/2 t. Curry

1/4 t. Salt

Juice of 1 Lime

Directions:

1.  Peel the 1/2 Pineapple and remove the eyes.  Finely cube the pineapple into small pieces slightly smaller than 1/4".  Then, peel and cube the Mango into pieces of the same  size.  Put the chopped pineapple and mango in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

2.  Remove the jalapeño stems and deseed the peppers.  Finely mince the jalapeños, and add them to the mixing bowl.

3.  Add the onions and mint leaves.  Stir the mix together.

4.  Add the Curry, Salt and Lime Juice.  Stir well.

5.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  Stir before serving.

Caraotas Negras

Probably the standard for Latin - especially Caribbean cooking - is Black Beans.  This is one of those dishes I learned while living in Venezuela.  The word for the type of bean that is a Black Bean in Venezuelan Spanish is "Caraota".  In Puerto Rico and the Dominican Rebublic, it's called "Habichuela".  But, please don't call them "Frijoles" unless you're in Cuba or Mexico.  Elsewhere, a frijol refers to a white bean.

This is a pretty simple dish to make, and incredibly versatile too.  The recipe is basically the same as my Basic Beans post, but with a little extra going on.

Ingredients:

2 c. Dried Black Beans

10 c. Water

1 t. Salt for boiling the beans

1 T. Olive Oil for boiling

1/4 c. Olive Oil for sautéeing. 

1 sm. Yellow Onion

1 large Bell Pepper

1 or 2 Chile Peppers (Optional)

3 or 4 cloves of Garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Soak the beans in the 10 c. of water over night.  You may put in a pinch of Fennel Seed and a pinch of Baking Soda while soaking them.  It might be helpful to review my post on how to make beans before doing this part. 

2.  Add the 1 t. of Salt and the 1 T. of Olive Oil to the soaking beans.  Then, cook the beans on high, and boil them for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or however long it takes to soften them.  As it's boiling, you will probably need to scoop the gray foam off the top before it boils over. 

3.  As the beans are boiling, mince the onions and garlic finely and set them aside.  I have found you can do this in a food processor on Pulse.  Do not turn the food processor on full or it will liquefy the onions.

4.  Quarter the Bell Pepper and remove the seeds and stem.  There's a helpful hint on chopping peppers in my post on Hummus. 

If you are using the chile peppers, cut the tops off, cut them in half and de-seed them.  Next, finely mince the peppers.  Again you can use a food processor on Pulse, but be especially careful with peppers as they will liquefy very easily.  Set the minced pepper aside.

5.  Heat the 1/4 c. of Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add in the minced Onion and Garlic.  Let them sauté until they begin to brown a little.  Then, add the peppers and continue to sauté them, stirring occasionally.  Cover the onion/pepper mixture with a lid while it cooks, continuing to stir occasionally.  Cook the mixture until all the ingredients are soft.  This is called the "alineamiento" (I don't know an English word for this).

6.  When the beans are soft, add the alineamiento to them and simmer together for apx. 1/2 hour.  They should thicken a bit.  You can cook them to desired thickness.  Add salt and pepper to taste before serving.

*There are various ways to serve Caraotas Negras:

1.  You can eat them as they are, like a soup.  This is commonly called "Turtle Soup."

Despite what your favorite cartoon about ninja turtles taught you, Turtle Soup does not contain turtle meat.  It's called that because black beans are sometimes called "turtle beans".  

2.  You can serve them over rice.

Like this.

3.  A very typical thing done in the Caribbean is to serve caraotas negras over spaghetti noodles, and then add a Tablespoon of Mayonnaise and Ketchup.  You then, stir the mayo and ketchup into the beans before eating.  

Don't judge it until you try it!!!

Matemales

This week's recipe is my (Matthew=Mateo) own version of Tamales.  A number of Latin-American countries have their own versions of Tamales.  Most Americans are familiar with the Mexican Tamal (The singular is Tamal, not TamalE).  In Venezuela, there is a typical Christmas dish called Hallaca, which is basically a Tamal wrapped in banana leaf, instead of corn husk.  I have eaten tamales filled with meat, fruit, beans and a number of other fillers.  The basic idea is the construction of the dish.  This recipe is a hybrid of a few different types of tamales that I have had over the years.  There are elements from different countries in this recipe.

One note about my recipe is that I use foil instead of corn husk for the wrapping.  This was a trick I learned from a friend at Cristo Rey, a church I attended in Chicago for a couple of years.  I know how to do this with corn husk, but it's really time consuming and doesn't add anything to the dish as far as I can tell.


Ingredients:

For the Masa (Dough):

4 c. Very Warm Water

1 T. Salt

1 T. Corn or Canola Oil

3/4 c. or one ear of Corn

Because I just can't do things the easy way!

2 c. Precooked Corn Flour
*Don't use a course corn meal, or it won't absorb the water.  A brown corn flour works, but the best kind I have found are two Venezuelan brands.  There is a way to make it from corn and from corn meal, but it's another thing that's rather complex.  Perhaps another day.

Most common/popular brand - white corn

My favorite brand - yellow corn

For the Filling:

2 T. Corn or Canola Oil

1/2 med. Yellow Onion - Chopped

2 sm. Chile Peppers - minced

1 c. Vegetables of your choice - Chopped

3/4 c. or one ear of Corn

1 c. Beans - any kind - boiled and drained

2 cloves of Garlic - Minced

1 T. Chile Powder

1 t. Cumin

Salt - to taste (if desired)


Directions:

1.  To make the filler, heat 2 T. of Oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sauté the Onion, adding the Garlic, Chile Powder, Cumin and Salt.  When the Onions begin to soften, add the Chiles.  Then add the Vegetables and 3/4 c. Corn.  Sauté over med-low heat until they soften, stirring occasionally.

2.  While the vegetables are sautéing, put 4 c. of Hot/Warm Water in a medium to large mixing bowl.  Add 1 T. of Oil and 1 T. Salt.  Then, add the 3/4 c. or Corn.  Next, stir the water with your hand, and slowly mix in the Corn Flour, stirring, then kneading it until it gets to be a sticky, doughy
consistency.

Mixing flour into water/corn mixture

Kneading the masa

What it should look like

3.  Add the beans to the sautéing filler.  Stir the filler well, and let it cook for apx. 1 minute.  Then, remove from heat.

4.  Put a large pot on the stove on high, about 2/3 full of water.  Heat it to boiling

5.  While the water is boiling, cut about a 12" long sheet of aluminum foil.  Press apx. 1/2 c. of masa onto the foil to where it's about a 1/4" thick.

6.  Put 1/3 c. of filling onto the masa.  Then cover filling with another layer of masa, trying to seal the filling completely inside of the masa.

It doesn't have to be pretty at this point.

7.  Fold the aluminum foil up over the filled masa, so that the two edges are together.  Then, fold one edge over the other a few times, until the foil is wrapped tightly around the masa, like a tube.  Next fold the ends of the foil tube in, until the masa is completely wrapped tightly into the foil.

This is what I mean

This is what it should look like wrapped.

8.  Repeat steps 6 & 7 until the masa is completely used up.  It should make 4 to 5 tamales. 

9.  When the water in the pot is boiling rapidly, drop the tamales into the boiling water.  Boil for 20 - 25 minutes.  At least once, turn them over, while they are boiling, so that they cook evenly.  A good indicator that they're done is when the aluminum foil turns brown.

10.  Unwrap the Tamales, and serve.  Be careful, because they are very hot!

Done!

Spicy Popcorn

Today.  I'm going real simple, but for a good reason.  I know what you're thinking: "Fr. Foodie, really?  I know how to make Popcorn."  Do you ever want a snack, so you go to the pantry?  Lo and behold, you pull out a bag of microwave popcorn.  You throw it in the microwave, and after 3 1/2 minutes, you have a yummy, buttery snack, full of salt, fat, and yellow #7.  

Microwavable Popcorn is an invention of my lifetime, but if you're too much younger than me, it probably has never occurred to you that you can actually make popcorn any other way.  (That's right, the Native Americans, as a traditional snack, had to lug a microwave around with them as they followed the Buffalo across the prairie.)

It turns out, popcorn is a pretty diverse food.  On its own, it's quite healthy.  It will taste like anything you put on it.   So, have you ever thought, hmm why am I putting the standard hardened milkfat on it?

For years now, I've been doing alternative flavors of popcorn, and making it from scratch.  Here's one of my favorite ways to do it.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. Popcorn Seeds

3 T. Olive Oil for popping

3-4 T. Olive Oil for seasoning

1 t. Garlic Powder

1 t. Chile Powder

1 t. Ground Red Pepper

1 t. Curry Powder

1 T. Salt

Directions:

1. Place Popping Corn in a very large pot.  Put in 3 T. Olive Oil. Swoosh it around until the kernels are covered with oil.

2.  Cover the pot and put it on the stove over medium heat.  When the corn starts to pop.  Shake the pot every 10 - 15 seconds to get the unpopped kernels to the bottom, and not burn the already popped corn. 

3.  When the popping slows down to apx. 2 seconds between pops, turn off the stove, and shake the pot one more time.  You should hear a couple more pops before removing the lid.

4.  Add the Garlic, Chile, Red Pepper, and Curry.  Drizzle the remaining Olive Oil over the popcorn.  Put the lid back on the pot, and while holding the lid down, shake the popcorn well to distribute the spices over the corn. 

Shake shake shake!  Shake that popcorn!

5.  Guard your popcorn carefully, so Kristen doesn't eat your half :)

Here it is again.

Gazpacho

So... The secret 2nd. part to last week's Tomato Juice recipe is...

¡Gazpacho!

This is quite possibly one of my favorite foods.  It's full of crunchy vegetables, it's healthy, it's refreshing and it's delicious.  I love Gazpacho, partly because of my love of Spain. 

Like so many recipes, there are scores of different ways to make Gazpacho.  Some people like it chunky (as this recipe does), others puree it to be drinkable.  Sometimes, it's puréed with vegetables added afterward.  Some recipes call for bread, either blended or left in chunks in the juice.  This recipe is one that my (not Spanish) dad has been making for years.  His recipe calls for beef broth.  So, I modified this one to be vegan.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Tomatoes
*Appx. 4 large tomatoes.

1 Cucumber (Which has a much funnier name in Spanish: Pepino)

1 Bell Pepper - Any color
*For this recipe, I chose red

1 Bunch of Green Onions

1 t. Celery Salt

6 c. Tomato Juice

3/4 c. Condensed Vegetable Bouillon
*If 1 Cube makes 2 c, boil it down to 1 c.  Makes sure it's room temperature before adding it to the mix.

3 T. Olive Oil

2 T. Red Wine Vinegar

1 t. Black Pepper

A dash of Hot Sauce (Optional - but why wouldn't you?)

Salt - to taste
   

Directions:

1.  Chop the tomatoes, discarding the green parts.

2.  Peel and de-seed the cucumbers

3.  Chop the green parts (tops) of the Green Onions. 

4.  Chop the Bell Pepper into large chunks

Yummy vegetables!

5.  Mix the vegetables, and Tomato Juice together in a very large bowl.  Add the Bouillon, Olive Oil, Vinegar, Hot Sauce, Salt and Pepper.  

6.  Let chill for at least two hours in the refrigerator before serving.  

Tongues of Fire Pentecost Lentil Soup

Today is the feast day of when, according to the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit came down like tongues of fire in Jerusalem.  So, in honor of this feast day, I wanted to feast on something Middle Eastern that would set all of our tongues on fire.  This recipe is a variation on a pretty standard lentil soup recipe.  Often lentil soup calls for spinach; I am opting for Kale, as it's a little more substantive.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. Brown or French Lentils

6 c. Water

1 t. Olive Oil (For boiling)

Already turning red for Pentecost

1 small Yellow Onion - Chopped

1 1/2 c. Sliced Carrots

3 Chile Peppers - de-seeded and chopped
*You can use fewer if you want tone down the spice.

2 cloves Garlic - Finely chopped

1/2 c. fresh Ginger root - finely chopped

1 T. Curry Powder

1 T. Olive Oil (For Sautéing)

1/2 Bundle of Lacinato Kale
*Apx. 6 c. after removing the stems and chopping

1/4 c. Balsamic Vinegar

1 t. Salt

Directions:
1. Soak the Lentils over night in the 6c. of water.  See my post on cooking legumes.  The lentils will expand to several times their size.

2.  Boil the lentils on medium heat with the 1 t. of Olive Oil for apx. 20 min.

3.  While the lentils are boiling, chop and prepare the Onion, Carrots, Chiles, Garlic, and Ginger.  Heat the 1 T. Olive oil in a pan.

3.  Sauté the Onion, Carrots, Chiles, Garlic, and Ginger well.  Add the Curry Powder.  Continue to sauté the vegetable mixture until the vegetables are soft.  Then, add the vegetable mixture to the lentils, and simmer on low for apx. 1/2 hr.

4.  While the lentils and vegetables are simmering, remove the stems from the Kale and chop it, not too small.

It's Blurry Soup

5.  After the lentils and vegetables have simmered, turn off the burner or keep it on Low to where it's not boiling.  Add the Kale, Balsamic Vinegar, and Salt and let sit for 5 min.  Serve.

Red Beans and Rice

Last week, I explained how to make beans.  This week, I'm going to explain one of my favorite ways to use them.  I tend to think of Red Beans and Rice as a Southern dish, but myself, not being a Southerner have been making them for years.  I've tweaked and modified my recipe for years to get it to this point, and I never quite make it the same way twice.  So, here's how I made this dish this week.

Ingredients:
2 c. Red Beans - drained
*If you cook them from scratch, leave them slightly harder than you normally would, as they'll cook more in this recipe.

3 3/4 c. Liquid from the Beans and Water added to make full amount - set aside
*Try to read ahead when you're making this and don't throw the Bean Juice away! 

2 c. Brown Rice - not parboiled

1/4 c. Ketchup
(Wait, did he really say Ketchup?  Yes, he did.  I think he's gone over the edge.)
 
1-2 Chile Peppers (depending on how brave you are)
*You can replace this with 1 T. of Crushed Red Pepper or 1 t. of Cayenne Pepper

1/2 t. Cumin

1 t. Salt

1 T. Olive Oil

3 Garlic Cloves

Directions:
1.  After peeling the Garlic Cloves, crush them.

2.  Cut the top off Chile(s), slice them in half down the middle, and remove the seeds.

3.  Put the Beans, Rice, crushed Garlic Cloves, and Chile Pepper into a medium-sized saucepan.

Pictured sans Rice

4.  Add the 3 3/4 c. Bean Juice/Water mixture, Ketchup, and Olive Oil.
*If the beans are slightly undercooked, add another 1/8 c. of water.

5.  Turn the stove on high, and add the Cumin and Salt.   
*Don't stir them in - they'll mix on their own.  If you stir rice, it gets gummy.

6.  Cook on high heat until it gets to a rolling boil.  Let boil, uncovered, for 3-4 min.

7.  Cover and turn down to Low Heat, and let it simmer for 50 min.

8.  If you still hear water boiling in the pot after 50 min, turn off the burner and just let it set for 10 min. while it finishes cooking on its own.

Done!

Enjoy!

Garden Guacamole

For my first recipe, I'm going to go with something simple and delicious.

This recipe is a variation on a basic Guacamole recipe.  Along with being a cook, I'm also a gardener.  I keep my postage-stamp sized yard in nice shape, and spend a lot of time doing so.  The problem: I have two invasive, yet edible plants that grow in my garden.

Mint

It WILL not stay in its nice area over the summer.

It's already invading the Asiatic Lilies

and Scallions

The solution:  It's Spring, and avocados are in season!

Most Guacamole recipes call for cilantro, but I figure if I can't get rid of the mint, it will make a nice variation on a classic recipe.  Here goes:

Ingredients:
3 Ripe Hass Avocados
*Note: Ripeness is very important.  Make sure they're slightly soft to the touch before chopping up, or it won't turn out well.
1/2 c. of Washed, Chopped Scallions - white and green parts, without small roots
1/2 - 3/4 c. of Mint Leaves
1/4 t. ground Cayenne Pepper
1/4 t. Crushed Red Pepper
1/4 t. Sea Salt
1 1/2 T. Lemon or Lime Juice
*Note: I use Lemon Juice, because it's more readily available.

Directions:
1.  Peel and cut 2 of the Avocados into quarters, without the seed.  Peel and dice the third and place it to the side.
2.  Place Mint leaves and Scallions in a food processor, and mix until they are finely chopped and mixed.
3.  Add in the two quartered Avocados into the food processor, and blend together with the Mint and Scallions until smooth.  Add the Lemon Juice.
4.  With the food processor running, add the Sea Salt, Cayenne, and Crushed Red Pepper.
5.  Add the diced Avocado, and process until desired texture
*I like mine a little chunkier.

Voila!