Tamarind Balls – The best reason to visit St. Kitts

Sorry, I feel like I have been neglecting all of you… but I was away for the weekend celebrating my 20th high school reunion aboard the Empress of the Seas, a weekend cruise that took us to St. Kitts and St. Maarten.  It was awesome to spend time with my school friends, some of whom I had not seen in over 10 years and have known for almost 32 years of my life.  I practically grew up with these people!!!

We visited St. Kitts as one of the stops in our journey… and my good friend Marly told me about Tamarind Balls.  This is a local sweet made with tamarind pulp, sugar, sometimes spices and even has the tamarind seed inside.  They’re tart and sweet, all in the same bite.  This is my kind of souvenir – not a t-shirt or a hat, a good sweet treat only made and found in this little Caribbean island.  My friend Marly discovered them because a cousin for her husband went to school in St. Kitts and used to bring them to them as gifts from the Island.  She tells me she has kept some for over a year in her fridge and they do not go bad.

 

I bought them in a pharmacy – they were sitting right there amongst the traditional commercially made candy.  The lighter colored version is made with sugar and spices.  The darker ones are made only with sugar.  To my taste, they taste truer to a raw tamarind fruit.  They’re both good in their won little way.  They cost me about a $1 USD each.  I brought in about 10 packages – some for me, some to give as gifts…

 

The beach was great – we went to Turtle Beach, with Nevis on the background.  I will not go into the details on how we got to Turtle Beach, but to me, the best reason to visit St Kitts, is for their Tamarind Balls.

Green Banana Mash

In Puerto Rico, when one does not feel well, we usually immediately crave or get prescribed “viandas” – viandas are mostly tubers – potatoes, yuca, yautia, malangas, sweet potatoes, yams, and for some reason plantains and green bananas are jammed up in there.  They are easy on the digestive system and seem to help you “get on your feet” again.

For some weird reason, I was craving viandas yesterday.  I went to the supermarket and spent 19 cents on 3 green bananas.  there is still something cheap at the supermarket.  Yes, bananas can be eaten ripe and green too… but you need to cook them.  We usually boil them.  But I need to show you a trick for it.

 

Green bananas, just like green plantains, have what we call “mancha” – they release a sap when you cut them open.  To avoid this, you just wipe some cooking oil in your hands and on the knife you’ll use to prevent the sap to stick to any of them.  When you go and boil them, add some cooking oil to the boiling water to prevent the sap to get on the saucepan.

Be careful – this mancha or sap STAINS A LOT.  If you get it on your clothes, more than likely you will not be able to get it off.  There’s a local saying when you can’t deny being a Puerto Rican, people say that you have “la mancha de plátano” or “plantain sap stain” resembling the fact that the sap from a green plantain or banana can’t never be cleaned or taken away. 

Here’s what you do…

 

GREEN BANANA MASH

3 green bananas

Salt – for the boiling water

Cooking oil – for the boiling water, your hands and the knife

Extra-virgin olive oil

Garlic Salt to taste 

1. In a large pot, fill with water.  Add salt and a squirt of cooking oil. 
2. Cut off the ends of each banana and cut a slit all the way down the banana.  Do not take the skin off the banana.  We’ll boil them with the skins on.  

3. 

4. Boil in the pot for about 20 minutes, until the bananas are fork tender.  the water will turn a weird color – don’t dispair.  This is the sap in the banana skin.  

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6. Drain the bananas.  Take the skin off.  It should come off very easily.
7. Mash with a fork while still warm… they’ll be harder to mash when they’re cool.  Drizzle with olive oil until you get a smooth consistency and season with garlic salt.

With a few more steps… we can convert this into mangu, a delicious Dominican dish.  That in an upcoming installment – OK?

I had this with my Avocado and Tomato Salad.

Avocado and Tomato Salad

I have a pet peeve – why do TV chefs teach people to cut avocados using a knife and a spoon??   Cutting the whole avocado in half, taking the pit out using a knife, spooning the flesh away from the skin… why so much hassle???

For the single person… you would never be able to eat a whole avocado in one sitting… at least not the ones usually found here in Puerto Rico.  I believe these are called Fuerte Avocados.  It’s difficult to eat one in one sitting, unless you were making guacamole or cooking for a crowd.

First – it’s easier to cut avocados in wedges.  And if the avocado is ripe, the skin will come right off.  If you cut them in wedges, you just use/eat what you want at that moment and wrap the remainder with tight plastic wrap for the next time.  No need to eat a whole avocado in one sitting.

                          

So… avocado season is starting again… apparently, because they’re all over the supermarkets and markets.  So I bought one and made myself a quick easy salad to accompany my Green Banana Mash.

 

AVOCADO AND TOMATO SALAD

2-3 wedges of avocado, cut in pieces

1 medium sized tomato, cubed

Extra-virgin olive oil

Garlic Salt

1. Mix everything in a small bowl and enjoy

Quick Lettuce, Tomato and Corn Salad

I had some leftover Sauteed Corn and Onions but not enough to eat by itself, so I created this quick salad.

I grew up eating canned corn…  I will out my mom and confess that when we were growing up, salad was many times opening up a can of corn or a can of string green beans.  I loved them, but now I know better.  One of my former secret indulgences were white rice with tuna,  ketchup and corn.  Mmmm!!!  My grandpa used to call this – Arroz Pio Pio. 

No need to heat up the corn, just take the chill off from the fridge and it’s good to go.

 

QUICK LETTUCE, TOMATO and CORN SALAD

Romaine Lettuce

Tomato

left over Sauteed Corn and Onions

Extra-virgin olive oil

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

Garlic salt

1. Place the lettuce, tomatoes and corn in a salad bowl.
2. Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice and garlic salt.
3. Toss together and serve.

Sauteed Corn with Onions

I am in a use-up mode.  I told myself I was not returning to the supermarket until I have used up most of what I have on hand right now.

Has this happened to you?  That you eat mostly the same  – day-in day-out  – and you keep leaving in the pantry or the fridge stuff you bought at some point but can’t seem to get to cook it now.  That’s the worst kind of waste… when you need to throw stuff out because you didn’t get to prepare it.  I need to change my ways and put a stop to that!!!!

So I looked in my freezer and I found a bag of frozen corn…  what to do with it???  I started to improvise and this is what came about…

 

SAUTEED CORN with ONIONS

 1 cup frozen corn – I am sure that this would work with fresh corn too

1 tbs olive oil

1/4 onion – sliced

2 tbs crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce – I used Tomates Fritos from Viter with a little crushed tomatoes I had leftover.

Garlic Salt to taste

1. Pour olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Pour in the frozen corn and the onions and stir to coat with the olive oil.  Cover so the steam generated cooks and soften the corn and onions.
2. About 5-10 minutes later, pour in the crushed tomatoes and season with garlic salt. 
3. Sautee for a few minutes more until the corn is thoroughly cooked.
4. Serve warm.

I was completely surprised on how good this tasted.  It was a step up from boiled corn with a little butter.  The gamble paid off.  I hope you like it too.  I served this originally with my Creamy Potatoes.  And later on served it as part of this salad…

Creamy Potatoes

I’ve spent the last 4 days cleaning one of my rooms trying to make it into an organized and functional home office.  The more I threw out, the more things appeared.  Amazing. 

But more amazing was the bunch of old recipes I had written a few years back for the yoga center that I had completely forgotten about.  I found this folder with about 5 potato recipes I had made a looooong time ago, just waiting for me to rediscover them again.  Perfect for my Potato Festival theme…

One of these recipes is this Creamy Potatoes dish – it’s basically a potato gratin, but because the name in Spanish is Papas a la Crema, I thought I should stay true to the original name…  It turned out to be a very creamy and satisfying little dish.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

 

CREAMY POTATOES

2 lbs potatoes – I used russets – sliced as thinly as possible

1 medium onion – sliced as thinly as possible

3 cups of milk

4 tbs cornstarch

1/2 stick of margarine

2 tbs sofrito

1 1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste 

Grated Parmesan cheese – optional

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Wash potatoes well and slice them as thinly as possible.  I used a mandolin for the first time and I love the way they come out – Super consistent.  Slice onion too.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, pour margarine and sautee sofrito for a few minutes.  Pour 2 cups of the milk.  In the remaining milk, dilute the cornstarch and  pour in.  Season with salt and pepper.  Whisk until the sauce starts to thicken a bit.
4. Stack the potato and onion slices in a glass casserole dish.  Pour the milk mixture over the potatoes.
5. If using, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the potatoes.
6. Bake in oven for 45 minutes.
7. Turn off oven and let the potatoes in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes.  Let cool a bit before serving so the sauce does not run all over the place.

I served this together with Sauteed Corn. 

Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich

If you make the recipe before – Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelon - and you have leftover fried eggplant, what do you do with it?????

Make an eggplant sandwich!!!!!   But what would make the ultimate eggplant sandwich – an Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich!!!!

EGGPLANT PARMESAN SANDWICH

Whole wheat hoagie bread bun 

2-3 fried eggplant slices – check out this recipe on how to batter and fry the eggplant

2-3 fresh mozzarella cheese slices

Grated Parmesan cheese

Tomato slices

3-4 Lettuce leaves

Egg-less mayonnaise 

1. Spread the mayonnaise on both bread halves.
2. Stack the fried eggplant slices, sprinkle some grated Parmesan, mozzarella slices on the bottom half.
3. Place in a toaster oven or broiler for a few minutes for the cheese to melt a little.
4. Add the tomatoes and lettuce.  Top with remaining bread slice…  (like I need to tell you how to build a sandwich, huh?)
5. Press sandwich for all the ingredients to come together.

This is how I made this sandwich when I was veeeeeeery hungry the other day.  But now thinking about it, it would really make it an Eggplant Parm sandwich if I had added a bit of tomato sauce before adding the cheeses.  In this case, the tomato and lettuce would be optional.

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelon

I’ve been trying to “crack my head open” trying to figure out a way to translate the word “pastelón” for you guys.  A pastelón is very similar to a casserole… but the difference being that things are mainly layered in instead of mixed all -together.   So I figured that if Rachael Ray can invent a word in “stewp”, I can just use the word “pastelón” and you’ll learn to embrace it.

Pastelón is pronounced  [pas-te-LON], and as I mentioned before, it consists of layers of ingredients, sometimes pre-cooked, sometimes raw and then baked off in the oven.

This is a new installment for the Potato Festival I mentioned a few posts ago…  I know, the translation thing should have not kept me for posting this, but I guess I got caught up in it.

POTATO and FRIED EGGPLANT PASTELÓN

3 medium potatoes cut into 2″ pieces – you can use new, russet or red-skinned potatoes

 1 small eggplant – try to buy the lightest eggplant available*

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 tbs sofrito

¼ – ½ cup of water

2 tbs butter

2 tbs cream cheese

4 tbs grated Parmesan cheese, divided

A splash of milk

¼ cup Italian cheese blend

Salt, Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil – to fry the eggplant

*  Note:  The lighter the eggplant, the less seeds it will have and the less bitterness it will have.

1. In a medium sized saucepan with salted water, boil the potatoes until fork-tender.  I find the potatoes boil faster when I use as little water as possible…  I guess it’s a combination of boiling and steaming… I don’t even let the water cover the potatoes.  Just let the water come up halfway the potatoes.
2. Then, you need to prepare the eggplant batter…  Mix together the flour, water, sofrito and season generously with salt and pepper.  Use enough water for the batter to have the consistency of pancake batter.  Set aside.
3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil for frying.
4. Slice the eggplant your favorite way – in rounds or in long slices.  Dunk the eggplant slices in the batter.  Clean up any drips and fry until golden brown. Drain the fried slices over paper towels to soak up any excess oil.  Set aside.

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6. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. When potatoes are done, drain any liquid leftover.  Mix in butter, cream cheese, 2 tbs of the Parmesan and milk.  Smash then until creamy soft.  Season with garlic salt and pepper.

8. 

9. Pour half the mashed potatoes in a buttered casserole dish.  Add in the fried eggplant slices creating a layer.  Sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese (optional).  Add in the remaining mashed potatoes.  Top with the last of the remaining Parmesan and the shredded cheese mix.

10.  Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and golden brown and the flavors meld. 

 

Breakfast Sandwich

I am on a bread phase… and most mornings I crave bread in some kind of shape or form.  I know I should be more moderate, but sometimes the craving is too strong to ignore.

I love toasts with lots of butter, I love cheese toasts, I love melted cheese sandwiches… but the other day I saw a box of veggie bacon and I knew I have to do something with it.  I built this breakfast sandwich – cream cheese, veggie bacon, tomatoes on whole wheat toast.  It hit the spot… so much indeed that I ate it two days in a row…

 

BREAKFAST SANDWICH

Whole wheat Bread

Cream Cheese

2-3 veggie bacon strips

cherry tomatoes

1.  Toast bread.  Cook Veggie Bacon according to package directions - I put it in the toaster oven for 5 minutes turning it half way
2. Assemble components in your favorite way.

Enjoy your breakfast!!!!

The easiest Baked Penne… ever!!!!

This is one of the easiest recipes… ever!!

The funny thing, it has not been even 24 hours since I learned about it.  I was perusing one of my favorite food blogs – Serious Eats… and in one of the Talk threads there was a discussion about making mac & cheese without boiling the pasta first.  Then, one of the participants – his/her name is hanak- mentioned this recipe for Baked Ziti without even boiling the pasta.  I always get stumped at what to do for lunch… so when I read this today, my lunch dilemma was immediately solved.  I would do this while I finished some stuff at the computer.  God bless  hanak and the Baked Ziti recipe…

I modified the recipe a little – as you know… can’t bear to make a recipe “by the book” not even once.  Here is the recipe as it was given to me today and with notes on the modifications I made to it today at 1PM:

 THE EASIEST BAKED PENNE

8oz whole wheat pasta – I used penne, but ziti or any tubular pasta would work

28oz can of crushed tomatoes – I used a 26oz carton of Pomi crushed tomatoes

6 tbs extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp chopped garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fresh Mozzarella -  optional

Grated Parmesan cheese – optional

1. Soak the dry pasta in the olive oil for around 20 minutes.
2. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

This is a picture of the pasta at this point.  It is DELICIOUS just like this!!!!  A bit oily to my taste, so maybe the next time I will try to see if I can cut the oil in half… but believe me, it’s been a while I tasted a pasta that I would eat as is, without any cheese.  This one is awesome.  I even bragged to my mom about it already…

 

I decided to use up some leftover fresh mozzarella cheese… so I added a few pieces in the dish, sprinkled some grated parm/romano cheese and put it back in the oven with the residual heat after I turned it off.  It is really good, but as hanak said… it does not need it.

Thanks a lot to my fellow online foodies, but specially to hanak and this awesome Baked Pasta recipe…  they are all a source of inspiration and hunger-relief. 

GRACIAS!!!!