The VACATION face

My God Daughter is growing up!!!

My God daughter sent me a text message today.

"hi hi! so your goddaughter just purchased her first caldero (all grown up now sort of haha) can you send me that recipe for rice and beans we made when i was cali???"

This made me incredibly happy. When she visits, we always rock something in the kitchen and I feel that is a special bond that we share. She still looks like this to me.

Arroz con Gandules

2 cups grain rice
2 cups of hot water, or beef broth- USE THE SAME CAN FROM THE GANDULES AND THAT IS HOW MUCH WATER YOU USE.

appx. ½ cup sofrito 

1 PORKCHOP (DICED)
16 ounce can of gandules
2 tablespoons of alcaparrado (cappers and olives        mixed together)
1 packet of Sazon with achiote
1 can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons of oil
Salt & pepper to taste

In a medium size caldero add the oil, tomato sauce, alcaparrado, sofrito and sazon ANS PORKCHOP. Cook over medium heat for 4 minutes. Add all other ingredients, and enough water to cover the rice 1" above the rice line. Start with 1 teaspoon of salt stir and keep adding and mixing well until you are satisfied with the taste. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until most of the water is absorbed. Once the water has been absorbed, stir gently from bottom to top - once or twice only, cover and turn the heat down to low.  Cook for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Stirring the rice after it has begun cooking may cause it go get sticky or "amogollao."

Any rice that sticks to the bottom of the pot is called "pegao" and is crispy and tasty and a favorite of all true Puerto Ricans. However, not everyone is skilled is making pegao - it is an art. To make great pegao make sure to use plenty of oil. Cook for about 10 minutes longer so the pegao gets crispy and keep your eye on it. Each time you cook rice - check to see how long it takes to make pegao just the way your family likes it. Finally - if you want a lot of pegao - use a bigger caldero which, of course, will have a larger bottom surface.

If you need any help, skype or facetime and I will walk you through

Love you always

Padrino

SAUCE THAT ROCKS!!!!!

Today I finally got a sauce from scratch that I thought was a winner. I am tired of trying sauces from a jar. They are packed with preservatives and I want to feed my family food that is fresh. For the past couple of months, I've tried about a dozen different recipes to find a taste that I thought was authentic, simple, and genuinely bangin. Well, welcome to "La Salsa de pescao"

The ingredients are pretty easy:

The material (LOL)

• 1/4 cup onions
• 1/4 cup celery
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 5 leaves of fresh basil
• 1/8 cup of fresh parsley
• 1 jar of mutti tomato puree
• 2 tablespoons of avocado oil
• salt to taste

The hand to hand (LOL) Get a saucepan and throw in the avocado oil. Wait until its hot ( med to high heat) and throw in the onions. Sweat them for about 5 mins and then throw in the celery and cook for another 5. After that, throw in the garlic and cook for two mins. You are stirring all of this. If anything starts browning,  lower the heat and remove the pan until it cools down.

Now, once everything looks soft  to the touch, throw in the tomato puree and place it on low heat. Cook it until its about a sauce/ thick texture. Add the basil and let it cook for another 12 mins. Once  it looks dryish, you are good.

Remember that when you are using this for pasta sauce, throw the pasta into it and use some of the starch water to thin out the sauce.

I was actually giddy when I tasted the sauce. I've tried everything and I was kinda bummed out after failure via failure. I've come to realize that I am my worst critic. Shit, I cook lunch and dinner yesterday for Ellie's best friend and I bombed the fuck out of lunch.  It tasted more like the ocean then a stir fry. I used braggs liquid amino acid (a soy sauce alternative) and I went over board.

So here I am, ready to get redemption of a fucked up mofongo and a stir fry that tasted like Orchard beach.

In the meantime, love this sauce I made. If you don't like it, pues, whatever.

Food, Love, and friends

I want to thank Chris Kelly for giving me the inspiration to write about my exploits in the kitchen. Not only will our share my process but I will share my accomplishments and my failures. Of course, there will be comedy along the way.

I kept a blog for many years and it got me more in trouble then what it was worth. Now, this spot here will be more for me then the world. With the way society has gone to 3 second attention spans, I doubt many people will take time out to read past the 1st paragraph.

So, be ready, pics, love, and many many stories about the people I feed and how my kids are eating and playing and just being merry.

:)

Be well


Fish