Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Mofongo and Carne Frita recipe

Well its been a while since I have made a post. I decided to post my delicious recipe for mofongo. Mmm Puerto Rican goodness! I made it for my dad on Father's Day, he hasn't had it in like 2 years. You may ask... What the HELL is that!? *lol* Very simple it is a little plantain ball that you eat with fried pork and stock. Chicken, Beef, Pork, or Fish stock is served with it. Although chicken stock is used the most.

The plantains are fried and mashed in a mortar and pestle with pork cracklin (pork rinds), a good amount of olive oil, garlic, and salt to taste. Simple and delicious but it is a little work mashing it up. Here it is!*
Note: It serves about 4-6 people or 10 (1 ball per person)


Mofongo :
6 large green plantains
pureed garlic (salted slightly)
1 Ibs. of plain pork rinds, if you can find fresh fried pork cracklin' I highly recommend using that.
Olive oil
Frying oil
large bowl
large frying pan
Large mortar and pestal

1. First cut plantains length-wise and peel off skin.

2. Cut platains into 1 and 1/2 inch pieces and soak in large bowl of salted water. 8 cups (2 quart) with 2 Tbs of salt.

3. Soak for 15 minutes.

4. Drain and dry the plantains (You don't want to get splashed with hot oil when you fry.)

5. Fry plantains at about 350 degrees for till golden drain and reserve.

6. Place 5 pieces of plantain 1 tsp. of garlic puree, and roughly 3/4 of a cup of cracklin' in mortar and mash add olive oil a little at a time till mixture is slightly smooth like thick really mashed potatoes but still has little pieces remaining. (Again this is they way I like it you can adjust the seasoning as you like.)

7. Let cool a little and form in 2 and 1/2 sized balls. It should make about 10 balls. Serve with stock and carne frita.

Enjoy!

*See below for stock and carne frita recipes.

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You can use the boxed chicken stock if you like but here is my recipe for homemade Puerto Rican chicken stock.

8- 12 cups of water
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Ibs. Whole cut up chicken with innards
1 large carrot
1 large celery stalk
1 onion
1 medium green pepper
6 large cloves of garlic
a few sprigs of fresh oregano (or 1 Tbsp of dried oregano)
1 Tbsp of fresh cilantro
1 handful of green olives crushed slightly
Large stock pot or pot large enough to do the job
Salt to taste or leave plain


1. Brown the chicken remove, then sautee the vegetables and garlic in the olive oil till slightly tender then add chicken back to pot and herbs.

2. Add water bring to a boil then simmer for 2-3 hours. (Or use a pressure cooker for 30 minutes)

3. Once stock is done strain off meat and vegetables with a colander and cheese cloth. (or heavy duty paper towel don't forget to save the chicken meat for something else!)

4. Use immediately or cool and put it away. It will stay good in the freezer for while.

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Carne Frita:

3 pounds fresh pork shoulder (Cut into 1 inch chunks)

1/4 cup redwine vinegar

1/3 cup of olive oil

1 Tbsp of Goya adobo (Can be found at most grocery stores in the spanish isle)

5 cloves of garlic mashed to a paste

1/2 tsp of oregano

1. Rinse meat add vinegar, garlic, adobo, oregano, and olive oil. Let marinate 2 hours or overnight.

2. Deep fry at 350 degrees in medium sized batches till done , about 10 -12 minutes. Drain and serve

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Delicious Nutella S'mores

Here's an easy and tasty recipe. Its fun for kids to do too.  It's s'mores made with Nutella instead of plain chocolate. In my opinion its tastier.

Nutella S'mores

 Desired amount of these items: 
  • Graham crackers
  • Jar of Nutella
  • Marshmallows 

1. Simple break a graham cracker in half and place a marshmallow on top and micro until puffy. Or use an actual roasted marshmallow.

2. On other graham cracker half spread on the Nutella, squish the to crackers together and you got one tasty s'more!!

Note: For a healthier version use your favorite fruit instead of the marshmallow its just as good!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Secrets To Great Cooking

This is something I got in my apartment magazine, very true and useful for cooks of all levels. I have made a condensed version. (Copyright material of Lighthouse Publishing not my own)

Secrets To Great Cooking

1. Collecting Good Recipes - Good recipes come from many sources not just cookbooks. Many can come from family and friends. The benefit of collecting recipes this way is you taste thembefore hand. Live cooking demonstrations sometimes offeres free samples. When collecting recipes keep them organized in either a notebooks, recipe box, in the computer, or even online.

2. Use only the best equipment- Good equipment makes work in the kitchen easier. A good thing to invest in would me a good knife set. But as always go with the best you can afford.

3. Keep it Simple- Some of the best tasting meals in the world are the simplest. Simple meals have fewer ingredients and they compliment each other superbly. Adding too many ingredients to a dish can create a canceling of other flavors as well as overwhelming it.

4. Buy Top Quality Ingredients- Leading chefs only use the freshest and best tasing food the can find. Even the best chefs is the world would have difficulty making food taste good from inferior products. However this does not mean that eveything has to be made from scratch. Always good for quality and freshness when purchasing pre-packaged times. If cost is an issue go for smaller portions. Better a healthier small amount than a larger inferior product.

5. Use Complimentary Foods- A secret to cooking well lies in combining complimentary foods, where one ingredients actually enhances the favor of the other. For example favorite combinations are tomato and basil, another would be brown sugar and cinnamon. There are many endless possibilites.

Hopefully this list will makes cooking for some of you easier to understand and also a helpful guide to preparing delicious quality foods. I will try and post some new recipes soon. Good luck and Good Eating!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Hmmm noticed I haven't been here in a while...

Well 1st a thank you to Psychedelic for the comment I wish I could have commented back to you sooner. I really need to start up on this again. I'm glad that I came here I ended up commenting on something else and came to check up on my blog. Well I will spend the rest of today to come up with something interesting and delicous to post! Also need to update my photo and I think I will add some "shows" to youtube...okay I'm out!!