Roasted Mustard Potatoes

I love making this dish!!!  The smell of the mustard when it’s in the oven is divine…

ROASTED MUSTARD POTATOES

2 lbs red-skinned baby potatoes, cut in quarters or halved

6 tbs mustard – dijon, grain or spicy mustards will all work great here

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp Italian seasonings

2 tbs olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil spray

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mustard, garlic, Italian seasonings, olive oil, salt and pepper. 
3. Place cut potatoes in the same bowl with the mustard mixture and toss to fully coat all the potatoes.
4. Move the mustard-coated potatoes into a  baking sheet sprayed with canola oil spray.
5. Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes until potatoes are tender when speared with a fork.

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

This is one of the easiest and nicest side dishes you can create.  I make it in a toaster oven while I prepare the main dish.

 

HERBED ROASTED POTATOES

2 lbs of red skin or other waxy potatoes, washed and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbs garlic salt

2 tbs Italian seasonings 

2 tbs white pepper

2 tbs parsley – dried or fresh

2 tbs kosher salt

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs paprika (optional)

4 tbs Liquid soy margarine – I eye-ball this usually… enough to coat the potatoes.

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together all the herbs and spices – garlic salt, Italian seasonings, white pepper, parsley, kosher salt, lemon zest and paprika, if using.
3. Drizzle a small amount of the liquid margarine and “butter” the baking dish or roasting pan you’ll be using to roast these potatoes.  This way you’ll ensure the potatoes will not stick to the bottom. 
4. Place cubed potatoes in the roasting pan or dish in a single layer.  Drizzle liquid margarine on top of potatoes and sprinkle the herb mixture.  Using your clean hands, massage the potatoes with the margarine and the herb mixture until the potato cubes are all slathered with margarine and herbs.
5. Roast in oven for about 30-35 minutes – until potatoes are golden brown and soft when you pierce them with a knife.  Move them around the half-time mark if you want.  I sometimes forget and they usually turn out OK.

2008 – Year of the Potato

I love potatoes.  If I had to eat only one food, I think potatoes would be it.  They’re soooo versatile – you can fry, boil, roast, broil, bake, stew, mash, smash, and basically do anything to them and potatoes will reward you with a delicious and nutritious treat every time. 

Potatoes are so important in the world’s culinary and nutritional environments the United Nations named 2008 the year of the Potato, based on the role the potato can play in providing food security, eradicating poverty and achieving development goals – WOW!!

There’s one more reason why I love potatoes – my grandfather in Cuba was a well-known potato grower.  He was known by everyone in his town in the southern part of the Havana province simply as “Neno, el papero” – papero being roughly translated to “potatoer”.  My grandfather’s potatoes were consumed locally in Cuba, but mainly exported to the US.  When my good friend Angie learned about this, she lovingly nicknamed me – the Cuban Potato Queen.  To tell you the truth, this has stuck a bit and I even have artwork made by a good friend and artist as homage to this nickname.

I never got to meet my grandfather Neno.  He left his physical body a few years before my mom and dad met here in Puerto Rico…  So in honor of my grandfather’s potato heritage, I have decided to create in my blog a POTATO FESTIVAL.  A collection of potato dishes made to highlight all the goodness and versatility of this discreet tuber.  Some are side dishes, some are main dishes… we might even find some appetizers and desserts in this collection… however, I will assure you, they will all be incredibly delicious.

Hope you like them as much as I will like preparing them…

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Mustard Roasted Potatoes

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelón

Creamy Potatoes

Sweet Potato Pastelón

Néctar de Agave

 

Aprendí sobre la existencia del néctar de agave cuando fui al seminario culinario Conscious Gourmet este pasado Abril.  Estoy segura que le había pasado por el frente en el health food millones de veces, pero usualmente utilizo miel o azúcar negra para endulzar y sinceramente, no había sentido la necesidad de utilizar nada más…

 En el seminario discutimos como las azúcares refinadas tienen el potencial de afectar diversas condiciones de salud como:

 Cándida

 Depresión

 Crohn’s Disease y Colitis

 Ulceras

 Hipertensión

 Piedras en la Vesícula

 Piedras en los Riñones

 Y hasta el Cáncer…

Así que basándome en esa información, ¿por qué no utilizar y consumir un endulzante mucho más natural y mucho menos procesado?

El néctar de agave esta hecho de la misma planta del cual se hace el tequila.  Cool, ¿no?  Y como es un endulzante hecho de plantas, también es vegano.  Otro dato interesante del néctar de agave es que tiene un índice glicémico súper bajito, lo que significa que no activa la producción de insulina ni activa el sistema de almacenamiento de grasas en el cuerpo.  Y esto lo aprendí de mi hermana que es endocrinóloga y diabética desde los 15 años.

Para darles una idea del índice glicémico de diferentes alimentos:

Hojuelas de maíz (corn flakes)             119

 Pan Blanco                                                  112

 Arroz                                                             83

 Miel                                                              83

 Manzana                                                    54

 Chícharos                                                  32

 Néctar de Agave                                    27

El néctar de agave es muy buena alternativa para aquellas personas que son diabéticas, que están velando su consumo de carbohidratos, sus niveles de glucosa o velando su peso.  Mi amiga Kathleen perdió 45 libras el año pasado y ella le atribuye parte de su éxito a utilizar el néctar de agave como uno de los endulzantes que ahora usa regularmente.

Y no subestimes su poder endulzante… El néctar de agave es tan dulce como la azúcar refinada, pero no está procesado ni contiene ningún químico.  De hecho, debes utilizar de ¼ a 1/3 parte menos cantidad de néctar de agave que lo que usarías de miel o azúcar.  Yo lo utilizo de la misma manera que uso la miel – para endulzar bebidas, postres, cereales caliente, batidas de frutas, yogurt, etc.  Hasta lo uso para darle un toquecito dulce a mis crepas de espinacas…

Busca el néctar de agave la próxima vez que vayas a tu health food favorito.  Y si no lo consigues, mi amigo Guillén lo vende a través de la internet también, directamente desde México.  Trátalo, no te va a decepcionar… lo sé.

Vanilla Maple Carrots

Believe it or not… this is one of the recipes that started it all.  I found this recipe in the November 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living, did it and was sooooo easy and tasty that I shared it with my friend Kathleen.  She made it, liked it and posted it on her blog Kathleen’s Vegetarian Kitchen.  The rest… is blogosphere history.

 So far, I have made this about 3 times at the Yoga Center I attend and I always get requests to make it again.  I know my pictures are not yet to Martha’s standards, but with practice, I hope to get there one day…  at least the flavors are already there.

 Again, the times I have done this, I have done 5 lbs. of carrots at a time.  So I will follow the original recipe’s quantities to adapt to the regular household amounts.

VANILLA MAPLE CARROTS

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1 cup water

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

1-2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Combine carrots and water in a large skillet or saucepan. Season the water with salt and scrape the insides of the vanilla pod and mix in with the water. Throw in the vanilla pod left as well.
2. Bring to a simmer and cook carrots until they’re tender, about 10-13 minutes. Martha’s recipe says the water evaporates, mine never does evaporate a lot. So….
3. Drain all the water from the carrots.
4. Add syrup, honey, pepper and toss to combine. Be careful not to break up any carrots.

 This makes a great side dish on any night, but would also work particularly well for Thanksgiving or for any potluck dinner.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I realized last night, I made this recipe a few months ago and forgot to post it…

I love mushrooms.  I salivate when I travel to visit my sister in Indiana or to New York and go to any regular supermarket and see the wide variety of fresh mushrooms available.  Here we get mostly white button mushrooms and with luck, sometimes we can find portobellos, creminis or oysters… but they’re usually old soggy-looking, so I never buy them like that.

I learned this recipe from my other good friend, Giada De Laurentiis.    And until now, I haven’t realized my photo resembled so much the photo in the Food Network website.  I usually make this by “eye-balling” the proportion of the ingredients… so we’ll just use Giada’s proportions as a guide this time.

 

 STUFFED MUSHROOMS

1/2 cup whole-wheat bread crumbs – I grind ww breadsticks or leftover bread in the food processor 
1/2 cup shredded Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt and Black pepper to taste

Garlic & Herb Seasoning or Italian Seasonings
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
28 large white or cremini mushrooms, stemmed

Save about 1/2 the mushroom stems

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Prepare the stuffing by mixing in a bowl the breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, seasonings, salt and pepper.  Add olive oil until the mixture is damp and holds somewhat together when you press it between your fingers.
3. Take about 1/2 the mushrooms stems you took off and chop them very finely.  Add them to the breadcrumb mix and combine.
4. Fill each mushroom cap – not too tightly because they might break.
5. Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet, place mushroom caps on sheet and drizzle additional olive oil on top of the mushrooms.

 

6.  Bake for about 30 minutes until mushrooms are soft and the top of the filling is golden brown.

7.  Serve warm.

These are great as an appetizer or as a side dish.  I once made a “stuffed night” and served these mushrooms with my Stuffed Peppers and worked great.

Clementines – My favorite winter citrus

Citrus are mainly in season during winter-time. I read somewhere the season starts in November.  I know we have lemons here all year round… but when I visit Costco, it’s near the December/January time-frame where I see and can purchase one of my favorite citrus fruits… CLEMENTINES!!!!!!!

 

I learned about these delicious and cute Clementines about 10 years ago, but was not able to get them here in PR… and when Costco opened their doors about 6 years ago, they started bringing them.  I love them because they’re petite, mostly seedless, super sweet and their membranes are really thin, so they’re easy to eat in segments.

I regularly do not eat regular oranges in segments… I learned this when I was in school in Chicago and we had to do a project about the introduction to market of an Orange.  People would talk about eating them without a knife and I was – hello!!! speak for yourself!!!  I have to peel an orange with a knife and cut them in half … just like you would if you were using a juicer to make fresh squeezed juice.  I eat oranges like this because i can’t stand the bitterness of the membranes around the segments.

So for those of us who do not like orange membranes, Clementines are the perfect orange for you… as they are for me.  And the cute wooden crate is just an added plus.

Try some soon and tell me all about it…

 http://www.producepete.com/shows/clementines.html

Frutas Congeladas

Parece que estoy en un “mood” frutoso en estos días…  pero ya les mencioné que una de mis resoluciones de Año Nuevo es comer más frutas y vegetales.  Así que los estoy incluyendo a ustedes en este viajecito también…

Me encanta hacerme batidas de frutas en las mañanas.  Y el sabor que más me gusta son las “berries”.  Desgraciadamente, aquí en Puerto Rico por lo menos, las “berries” son importadas y tienden a ser bastante caras.  Últimamente he pagado hasta $7-$8 por una libra de fresas.  Aparentemente no están en temporada en los Estados Unidos y sabrá Dios de dónde las tienen que traer.  Y si quiero comer berries, hay poco que pueda hacer para reducir el impacto de esto en el ambiente – nosotros no cultivamos berries en Puerto Rico, así que hay que comprarlas importadas o no comerlas para nada.

Lo que quiero compartir con ustedes hoy es como congelar las fresas… y este es un truquito que aprendí de mi gran amiga Martha Stewart (ella no sabe lo grandes amigas que somos…) Pero con el precio de las berries como están, no me las puedo comer todas de un cantazo y tienden a dañarse rápido.  Para evitar tener que desperdiciarlas, cuando compro fresas, raspberries, blueberries, etc es que las congelo individualmente colocándolas lavaditas en unas bandejitas de hornear y después que se congelen las guardo en bolsitas plásticas.

Primero lavo las fresas,  o la fruta que sea, les quito la monita de arriba y las seco lo más posible con un papel toalla.  Las coloco en una bandejita de hornear una al lado de la otra, SIN QUE SE TOQUEN.  Deja la bandejita en el freezer por la noche completa y a la mañana siguiente las paso a unas bolsitas plásticas para guardar comida en el freezer.  Así, están congeladas, pero no se pegan las unas con las otras y están perfectas para sacar las que quieras para tu batida o receta del momento.

Así puedes disfrutar deliciosas frutas en cualquier momento…

Espero que esta idea te ayude.

Acid Fruit Salad

Fruit salad come in different varieties – those made with what we call “sweet” fruits – like bananas, papayas, mangoes, red apples, etc.  And my favorite, “acid” fruit salads, made with fruits that are more tart, like oranges, kiwi fruit, grapes, strawberries, pineapples, etc.

At work, we planned a breakfast to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday.  I was somewhat surprised thta no one had offered to bring any fresh fruits.  The ”pot luck” menu was full of baked goods, greasy foods and not a fruit in sight.  So I offered to bring a fruit salad.  This is one of my favorite combinations…

 

ACID FRUIT SALAD

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut in small pieces

5 kiwi fruit, peeled and cut in small pieces

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut in small pieces

1 medium bunch of green or red grapes, cut in half and seeded, if not seedless

2 navel oranges, peeled and supremed

4 red plums, peeled and cut into small pieces

the juice of 1 lemon

honey to taste

1. Mix in a large bowl the pineapple, kiwi fruit, grapes and plums. 
2. When you peel and cut the apple, drizzle some of the lemon juice to prevent browning.  Add to salad.
3. To supreme the oranges, peel all the orange until you reach the flesh.  With a paring knife, cut in between each membrane so you get clean segments of orange without the membrane.  This way it’s easier to eat.  Add to the salad.  Squeeze the membrane over the salad to capture any remaining juice.
4. Drizzle with some honey to sweeten if the fruits are too tart.  This will also help “juice” the fruits a bit.

This is the best way to start your day… Enjoy!!!

Tuno Antipasto

Antipasto… when you hear the word you probably think of a platter of salamis, deli meats, Italian cheeses, olives, roasted peppers, etc.  And you would be right…

However, don’t ask me why or how, but in Puerto Rico, a party delicacy served warm made out of tuna or chicken, stewed with lots of onions, peppers and in a rich tomato sauce is also called an antipasto.  My version, of course, is made with Tuno – a brand of frozen soy protein flavored with seeweeds to taste like tuna.

You can have this as a warm party “dip” or  it goes great on top of rice or even pasta.

 

TUNO ANTIPASTO

1/3 cup of Tuno, defrosted

1 medium onion, sliced thinly

1 medium cubanelle pepper, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, finely minced 

1/2 cup pureed tomatoes or tomato sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 laurel bay leaf

1 roasted red bell pepper

2 tbs capers or sliced green stuffed olives

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, pour olive oil and onions.  Sautee for a few minutes, add peppers and garlic.  Add some slat and pepper to help the mixture release some moisture.  Sautee until softened.
2. Add frozen Tuno.  Cover saucepan, this will help the Tuno defrost completely.

 

3.  Add tomato sauce, vinegar, roasted peppers, bay leaf, capers or olives. 

4.  Cover and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. 

Serve warm with crackers as a warm dip.  Or serve on top of whole grain rice as a main course.

 

Buon Appetito!!!